Maggie Smith: The crème de la crème

Maggie Smith has died at the age of 89 (Picture: John Phillips) | Getty Images for BFI

Dame Maggie Smith, who has died at the age of 89, was a truly special actor. Younger readers will probably know her as the formidable but kindly Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter films. Others might know her better as the acerbic Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey.

However, the part which really made her name and that, we suggest, epitomises the true greatness of her talent is surely her role in the 1969 film of Muriel Spark’s book, The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie.

Maggie Smith has died at the age of 89 (Picture: John Phillips) | Getty Images for BFI

Her performance as the eccentric and problematic Edinburgh teacher won her an Oscar. The line “all my pupils are the crème de la crème” is one that she helped make famous.

The London-born actor’s delightful accent in the film – comic, yet also confident and commanding – may have been influenced by her Scottish mother and by trips as a young actor to Edinburgh to perform in the Festival Fringe.

Smith was good in every role she played. She was one of only a few actors in the world whose presence acted as almost a guarantee of quality. She will be missed.