The real-life dame and on-screen dowager countess, who has died aged 89, earned fame in her 70s and 80s for blockbuster roles. But her early work at the National Theatre marked her out as a talent for the agesDame Maggie Smith’s trophy cabinet reflected her extraordinary achievements across theatre, film and television – and in the biggest arenas of British and US culture, from the BBC to Hollywood, the West End to Broadway. A measure of her versatility and durability is that, in the 1960s, she played nine major roles in the formative years of the National Theatre, but also, from the start of the 2000s, appeared in five series of Downton Abbey, the ITV Sunday night series that became one of the biggest popular hits of the new millennium.Her role in that show was Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, who lived in such a bubble of exclusive comfort that, in trademark one-liners, she would drawl in mystification, for example: “What is a ‘weekend’?” That acerbic superiority was a signature throughout Smith’s career, including the part that brought her first Academy award in 1970, against a shortlist also featuring Liza Minnelli and Jane Fonda, for the title role in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, adapted from Muriel Spark’s novel about a maverick, arrogant schoolteacher in Edinburgh. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2024-09-27 13:37:47 UTC ]
J.K. Rowling and Paula Hawkins kept their #1 and #2 slots, respectively, on the iBooks bestsellers list as 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts 1 and 2' and 'The Girl on the Train' continue to captivate audiences. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mass merchandisers accounted for 33% of the first week sales of 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts 1 & 2,' according to Nielsen BookScan. The uptick was a much needed boost for the embattled retail channel. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In its debut week, print units sales for the #1 book in the country, ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts 1 and 2,’ are more than double those for the next 99 books combined. Plus Colson Whitehead’s ’The Underground Railroad' gets the Oprah nod and the #3 slot in Hardcover Fiction, the... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Arthur A Levine) sold nearly 2.6m print units in its first week through BookScan US, the third-biggest single week total for a book since accurate records began. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Shocking no one, 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts 1 and 2' stays #1 more than a week after its much-ballyhooed release. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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J K Rowling and Jack Thorne’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Little, Brown) has become the fourth fastest-selling title of all time, with 847,886 copies worth £8.76m shifted through Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market last week, making it 2016's biggest selling title of the year in just... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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NBCUniversal is continuing under the spell of “Harry Potter,” striking an exclusive deal with Warner Bros. to bring films of the juggernaut franchise to two NBCUniversal cable channels. The agreement, announced Monday, extends the relationship between the two media companies by conveying... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury is set to celebrate 20 years of Harry Potter with a year-long campaign, including special anniversary publishing and new projects with key partners. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harry Potter's appeal continues, with huge sales numbers coming out from the release of 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,' a book version of the script used in the West End play. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2016-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twenty years after the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, 2017 show promises ‘a journey to the heart’ of JK Rowling’s storiesIdeally positioned in King’s Cross, just a stone’s throw from the mythical beginning of the journey to Hogwarts on Platform 9 3/4, the British... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harry Potter's appeal continues, with huge sales numbers coming out from the release of 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,' a book version of the script used in the West End play. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2016-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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North American sales of 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' top 2 million copies, UK sales blow past records, all within days of Rowling's new release. The post In the US, UK, and Canada, Harry’s on Another Roll With ‘Cursed Child’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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To listen to the Audio Book Club discussion of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, click the arrow on the player below. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2016-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Harry Potter and the Cursed Child playscript has sold 680,000 print copies in the UK in its first three days of sale – making it the fastest-selling book in a decade. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rowling spoke about her plans for Harry Potter following the premiere of the play 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,' which depicts Harry and his family years after the events of the original books and films. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2016-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Boy Who Lived returns to the iBooks Bestseller list as the Book That Sold, J.K. Rowling's 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two,' rides the broomstick of public fervor to #1. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scholastic estimated Wednesday morning that 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two' sold more than two million copies in North American in its first two days of sales. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The script for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child becomes the fastest-selling book in the UK this decade. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2016-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The new Harry Potter went on sale last Saturday night, and bookstores across the country celebrated with midnight parties. Here we present a sampling of photos from those festivities. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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J K Rowling has told fans that Harry Potter is “done” after the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child playscript last weekend. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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