What is the best Maggie Smith role of all time?

Oscar winner, BAFTA legend, and the most beloved scene-stealer in British cinema — from Jean Brodie to Violet Crawley, her withering put-downs are a national treasure. Which Maggie is your Maggie?

Othello

A 1965 film adaptation where Smith plays Desdemona alongside Laurence Olivier, earning her first Academy Award nomination.

1/12

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

A 1969 drama where Smith plays Jean Brodie, a charismatic Edinburgh schoolteacher with fascist sympathies, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress.

2/12

California Suite

A 1978 Neil Simon comedy where Smith plays Diana Barrie, a British actress attending the Oscars with her gay husband, earning her second Academy Award.

3/12

A Room with a View

A 1985 Merchant Ivory adaptation where Smith plays Charlotte Bartlett, the prim chaperone who tries to manage her free-spirited niece in Florence.

4/12

Hook

A 1991 Steven Spielberg fantasy where Smith plays the elderly Wendy Darling, who implores a grown-up Peter Pan to remember who he was.

5/12

Sister Act

A 1992 comedy where Smith plays the uptight Mother Superior who must accept Whoopi Goldberg's show-stopping singer into her convent.

6/12

Tea with Mussolini

A 1999 Franco Zeffirelli film where Smith plays Lady Hester Random, a formidable expatriate Englishwoman living in Fascist Florence.

7/12

Gosford Park

A 2001 Robert Altman murder mystery where Smith plays Lady Constance Trentham, the acerbic, cash-strapped aristocrat who provides some of the film's sharpest wit.

8/12

Harry Potter Series

The 2001–2011 fantasy franchise where Smith plays Professor Minerva McGonagall, the stern but loyal deputy headmistress of Hogwarts.

9/12

Downton Abbey

A 2010–2015 ITV period drama where Smith plays Violet Crawley, the razor-tongued Dowager Countess whose withering one-liners became iconic.

10/12

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

A 2012 comedy-drama where Smith plays Muriel Donnelly, a prejudiced housekeeper who travels to India for hip surgery and undergoes an unexpected transformation.

11/12

The Lady in the Van

A 2015 biopic where Smith plays Miss Mary Shepherd, a cantankerous homeless woman who parks her van in Alan Bennett's driveway for 15 years.

12/12