Maggie Smith -- what a dame!

She is bloody hilarious in A Private Function as Michael Palin's wife (which I hadn't seen in about 20 years), pining for upper-class respect in food-rationed Yorksire after the war:

http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review/a-private-function/1931

Strangely, I've never managed to see all of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, or her playing Desdemona opp Olivier's Othello. Did see her on Broadway once, in this:

http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=4558

A Private Function, such a blast of a film. She just seems like a great character, period (or current-day).

First time I remember her in anything was the original Clash of the Titans.

Sir John Betjetman, Maggie Smith and Kenneth Williams:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dI8SYa8Szo

^^^Thanks for posting that - never seen it before.
I used to walk to school in Leamington Spa past these big houses with peeling stucco.

she's great in california suite, tho that movie has NOT aged well

she kills it in gosford park. possibly the best thing about that movie.

+ downton abbey

choice moment in downton abbey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2bfYw1B_Ww

i'm someone who generally hates costume dramas but downton abbey is bloody fantastic.

i watched california suite again a few weeks ago and thought it mostly stood up. the cosby/pryor section is poor but i always thought it was.

downton abbey is bloody fantastic

for those who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like

but in my case it's "for those who don't like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like".

She is of course also an asset in the best Merchant-Ivory film, A Room with a View

She waltzed through 'Downton Abbey'. I mostly watched it to see her steal scenes.

I remember "Travels with My Aunt" being on tv once in the late 70s/early 80s, and remember really liking it, though I can't remember any details except the final shot.

First time I remember her in anything was the original Clash of the Titans.

Same here.

Her best performance: The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne.

I saw that when it came out, and the trailer is on the Private Function DVD; struck me at the time as too much standrad spinster-melodrama.

shes p gr8 in sister act

She deepens the material. Terrific novel too by the way.

For a second I'm all "Sister Act was a novel?"

Yes, one of Thackeray's lesser known works.

she just gave a rare and fantastic interview with "60 Minutes."