Maggie Smith: A Biography (43 page)

The idyllic setting of the Stratford Festival Theatre, Ontario, where Maggie revitalised her stage career at the end of the 1970s in roles denied her at the National

Millamant in Congreve's
The Way of the World,
with Jeremy Brett as Mirabell

a flame-like Cleopatra in kaftans and a red wig

a shimmering Rosalind in
As You Like It.

Hollywood murder mysteries featuring all-star casts:
(above)
with David Niven in
Murder by Death
(1976), a spoof detective thriller written by Neil Simon

as a severe travelling companion to a rich widow (played by Bette Davis) in
Death on the Nile
(1978), an Hercule Poirot mystery scripted by Anthony Shaffer

and with Diana Rigg in
Evil Under the Sun
(1982), another Agatha Christie story relocated by Shaffer to the 1930s, with Cole Porter songs

Maggie won her second Oscar for playing an actress who fails to win one in
California Suite
(1978), written by Neil Simon and co-starring another British film legend from the wrong side of the tracks, Michael Caine

A farewell on Mount Olympus to Olivier as Zeus (centre) in
Clash of the Titans
(1981), scripted by Beverley Cross. Screen goddesses (left to right) are Maggie (as Thetis), Claire Bloom (Hera), Ursula Andress (Aphrodite) and Susan Fleetwood (Athena)

Betty the pig avoids the attentions of Gilbert and Joyce Chilvers (Michael Palin and Maggie) in
A Private Function
(1984). It was Maggie's first collaboration with writer Alan Bennett

Country life down on the Sussex farmhouse: Beverley and Maggie walk the dog while Chris watches Toby vault the gate on a rare family photo-shoot in 1986

relaxing on the sofa in the sitting room