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 ]
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The cookbook has been republished after an initial run in 1947, and her great-granddaughter Elizabeth Gilbert ('Eat Pray Love') reintroduces Potter in the forward. The cookbook is insightful and funny, weaving together practical advice and recipes.At Home on the Range Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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W H Smith is interested in buying up some of the failed Clinton Cards stores following the chain... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Susie Harries' Nikolaus Pevsner: The Life (Chatto & Windus) and Professor Alexandra... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Steve Kloves, the screenwriter who brought all seven Harry Potter books to the big screen, is in talks to direct a live action remake of The Jungle Book. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2012-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A rare week gives us three celeb memoirs by boldface names: Sissy Spacek, Gregg Allman, and Dan Rather are telling all. Turns out, fame is great and all, but what stars really want is a book deal. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The ebook editions of J K Rowling's Harry Potter series are now available in French, Italian... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Patrick Janson-Smith at HarperCollins imprint Blue Door has won the UK battle for the Swedish... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A multi-book deal for celebrity chef Lorraine Pascale, a memoir from “Strictly Come Dancing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jake Smith-Bosanquet has been appointed to the new role of managing director of literary agency... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Diane Banks at Diane Banks Associates has sold the memoirs of a 95-year-old former domestic... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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UK-based Reelart Media has bought film rights to Wilbur Smith's Those in Peril (Pan Macmillan... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The newest 'Star Wars' novel, 'Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse,' holds the No. 8 slot on the New York Times bestseller list. Success has become the norm for the books. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2012-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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John Smith & Son academic booksellers and Oxford University Press each scooped two awards at... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Transworld has acquired the new novel by “maverick” author Seth Grahame-Smith, known... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This is a comprehensive biography of the president and an assessment of his leadership qualities on and off the battlefield.Eisenhower in War and Peace Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The vice-president of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals [CILIP],... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pottermore has entered into an exclusive worldwide ebook and digital audiobook distribution... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Already in the works are plans for the second annual conference… so stay tuned for further details in the coming months. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Net-a-Porter Group has hired Tess Macleod Smith as its new group publishing director. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2012-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Quadrille has acquired a title by TV chef and owner of London restaurant The Star of India Reza... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-02-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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