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Screen veteran Dame Maggie Smith has a huge repertoire of acting, from high drama to high comedy. Now in her seventies she is still taking on huge roles including, Professor McGonagall from the Harry Potter franchise and the Dowager Countess of Grantham in one of the biggest series of the year, Downton Abbey. There was no history of acting in Maggie’s family; her father was a pathologist, her mother a secretary and her twin brothers were both successful architects. So it was a surprise to her family when she enrolled at drama school at the age of 16.

You are one of the most renowned actors of your generation, is there anything stopping you?
I am just surprised to be doing anything at my age actually. When you think of where I am now and where I’ve come from, I am very pleased and very grateful to be standing up and delivering Julian’s great lines.

Have you always wanted to be an actor?
I love it; it never crossed my mind to be anything else…I’m privileged to do it and I don’t know where I’d be without it.
 
The Dowager Countess of Grantham is a very formidable character, what do you like about her?
It is very satisfying to play a character such as Violet, and I have a lot of fun with her – Julian is good at those sorts of ladies. This is the third old lady I’ve played for him, so I am getting the hang of it now. When we meet Violet she is very bristly and quite horrid but eventually comes round to being much nicer than she was at the beginning. She mellows a bit by the end.

Cora and Violet have a very volatile relationship, are they friends or foes?
We are allies. Which can be a great deal more effective.

Tell us about Violet’s reaction to the new heir at Downton?
I am very cross with Mrs Crawley and her son, because I feel they are kind of going to get away with the Estate and with lots and lots of money - it’s all happened because some family members have gone down in the Titanic and I consider these Crawleys to be common upstarts.

She definitely tries her hardest to make Isobel Crawley feel most unwelcome. Are you friends with Penelope Wilton on-set?
 Mercifully, it’s not the same in real life. We get on very well and often take strolls together around the grounds of Highclere.

Catch brand new episodes of Downton Abbey every Thursday @ 11PM/10PM Th-Jkt. Only on DIVA Universal.

Written by DIVA UniversalEditor

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