Probably the most famous person from the cast of Downtown Abbey, we all know Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall from the Harry Potter films. In April 2016, she was awarded the Bodley Medal by the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the performing arts. In 2018, Smith starred in a British documentary titled Nothing Like a Dame, directed by Roger Michell, which documents conversations between actresses Smith, Judi Dench, Eileen Atkins, and Joan Plowright.
In April 2019, after an eleven-year absence from theatre, Smith returned to the stage in Christopher Hampton’s play, A German Life, as Brunhilde Pomsel at the Bridge Theatre in London. The film was released in the United States as Tea with Dames. In November 2020, Smith joined Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, and Ian McKellen for a conversation on Zoom entitled For One Knight Only, for the charity “Acting for Others.”