Robert Crawley was nominally in charge of everything. But it was clear that Violet and Mary were pulling all the strings through their understanding of how the social contracts really worked. And it was fitting that in the finale Violet hands over the future of the estate to Mary.
You have Phoebe Nicholls (who played Lady Rose's mother) and Diana Quick (Polina Molotova in The Death of Stalin and the Queen in the eponymous BBC series) doing some similar social machinations in the background of an absolutely stacked period-drama with a cast including Jeremy Irons, Laurence Olivier, and John Gielgud.
Time for a rewatch of Gosford Park while archly sipping gin out of a china teacup with a raised pinkie.
I'm delighted she got to work with Edgar Wright before her death and put in a great turn in Last Night in Soho; I'd a big fear she'd peter out with a few Dr.Who episodes in a fairly unceremonious end to a glittering and exremely accomplished career.
[0]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/09/27/maggie-...
It captures the tension of social norms and rebellion and, if one pays attention, the natural consequences of unbridled enthusiasm.
I've always thought of her as being well-known, but apparently it was Downton Abbey that really made her properly famous, which she didn't really like: https://x.com/lewispringle/status/1839680373774581849
I think the same of "The Graduate (1967)" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cKafIqhEvk
Note - this is not a movie she is in.
My favorite line from Downtown Abby: "What's a week end?"
I shed real tears when I saw that she had passed. The other week, with James Earl Jones, as well. We're losing a generation of actors with real, deep roots in theatre, who then adapted to TV and cinema as those media matured. They're a bridge generation, and their experience will not be replicated. The profession and the culture are the poorer for their loss.
RIP Maggie Smith
We’ll be lucky to live that long, and sorry to see them fall.
(Edit: s/fail/fall)
