Rare Details From Maggie Smith's Personal Life Are Shedding New Light On The Actress

Not everyone has shared the stage with Sir Laurence Olivier, bossed Harry Potter around, and been the fan-favorite character on a beloved period TV drama. Only one person can claim to have done all those things, and that's Dame Maggie Smith. She’s rubbed elbows with all sorts of royalty, from her 1920s-era Downton Abbey character to Hollywood royalty to the real-life Queen of England. She’s done it all, but her icon status didn’t happen overnight. The lights, cameras, and action of it all don’t appeal to her one bit. So how, then, did she become one of the most legendary actresses of all time?

Hit the ground running

Maggie Smith’s star-studded ambitions began at an early age when her family moved to Oxford. After graduating High School in 1951, she immediately joined the Oxford Playhouse School in the hopes of kickstarting her acting career. And it didn't take long for just that to happen. In 1952, at the age of just 17, Smith made her stage debut playing Viola in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

Broadway calling

Like many young people with fame on the brain, Maggie moved to New York in the mid-’50s. And there, under the dazzling lights of Broadway, she gained a place on the playbill for the comedy revue New Faces of 1956. The show ran for six months, with cleverly crafted sketches and songs being performed by Smith and other rising stars of the day. With Broadway under her belt, it was time to get her face on the screen.

Hitting the big screen

In 1956 Maggie secured her first film role in Child in the House, though it was uncredited. She struggled to break into the business, but in 1958, she finally succeeded with the crime film Nowhere to Go. The noir film was well received, and critics heralded Smith's performance as "impressively fresh and touching," especially since it was her first big-screen role.

Troubles in Hollywood

Though she had some trouble breaking into Hollywood, that certainly wasn’t the case when it came to the theater. She became a well-known stage actress at the National Theatre of Great Britain in the '60s, and even acted opposite Sir Laurence Olivier in Shakespeare's Othello. Surprisingly, Smith and Olivier's relationship wasn't as electric as their on-stage presence.