Movies - TV
Dame Maggie Smith Wasn't Exactly Thrilled With Her Downton Abbey Role
By MATTHEW BILODEAU
While Dame Maggie Smith’s filmography started in 1958 and includes an Academy Award for Best Actress for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” her contemporary legacy has been shaped by her roles in "Harry Potter" and "Downton Abbey." While grateful for the roles, she admitted to ES magazine that they “[...weren’t] what you'd call satisfying. I didn't really feel I was acting in those things."
Smith also spoke at the British Film Institute about how playing the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley in "Downton Abbey” changed her life in a way that she didn’t enjoy. She said, "I led a perfectly normal life until 'Downton Abbey.' I'm not kidding. I'd go to theaters, I'd go to galleries, things like that on my own. And now I can't and that's awful. The Fulham Road's dodgy!"
After 52 episodes, Smith was obviously tired and did not hesitate to express how glad she was for the end of the series on "The Graham Norton Show” where she stated, “[...] by the time we're through — she must've been 110. So, I couldn't go on and on and on. I couldn't. It just didn't make sense." She of course probably did not anticipate the two films that would follow, including "Downton Abbey: A New Era," which opened on May 20th.