Actress Maggie Smith seems to be at the height of her power, enjoying worldwide acclaim and success for her roles in the Harry Potter and Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films, as well as the TV series Downton Abbey. In Maggie Smith: A Biography, Michael Coveney, one of Britain's most respected theater critics, presents the storied influences of Dame Maggie's life.
Coveney explores Smith's exceptional talent by first examining her "spartan, though... not deprived, childhood." Because she was "not particularly welcomed" by her two elder brothers, Smith, in her loneliness, developed a voracious reading habit and a sharp instinct for privacy and cultivated her tart spirit and independence. An acting teacher who harbored reservations about Maggie's acting ability fueled the teenager's drive for the stage.
Coveney spends the bulk of the biography chronicling, in great depth, Smith's acting roles, her analytical approach to craft and the often nomadic existence required by her transatlantic career. Along the way, Coveney touches upon Smith's great loves, marriages and children. Smith's trademark self-preserving wit--along with her class and energy--enliven the narrative throughout.
Though the actress granted Coveney permission to write this biography, he asserts that Maggie Smith, even to those who know her well, is an enigma, and he accentuates Smith's difficulties in trying to balance her "private life with the public demands of her talent... career always came first." Therefore, it is fitting that this thorough and well-researched biography is anchored on Dame Maggie's exemplary body of work and the demanding drive of her dedication and genius, all of which have earned her critical acclaim and lasting appeal. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines