Smith, who has died aged 89, is best known for her wickedly acerbic line readings in Downton Abbey. While utterly plausible as a despotic, bitchy and libidinous toff, she could also play downtrodden and democratic, naive and clenched. With the baleful eyes of a bloodhound and an exquisitely raspy voice, she grips you every which way, and her influence on other actors (from Susan Sarandon to Kathryn Hahn) and even musicians (I’d argue she paved the way for Florence Welch) can’t be overstated. To tweak a line of dialogue from one of Smith’s most famous films (as beleaguered Scottish schoolmistress Jean Brodie), if intelligence is to your taste, this woman will give you a feast.
She was funny and intense from the off. Born in Essex, she moved with her family to Oxford when she was four years old, and was cast as Viola in an OUDS production of Twelfth Night (apparently, even when she was at Oxford High School, she knew this was a role she was born to play). Theatre directors like Peter Hall loved her. Before long, she was getting meaty roles at the Old Vic, working alongside Kenneth Williams (a lifelong friend), wowing audiences as Desdemona opposite Laurence Olivier’s Othello, and hanging out with husband-to-be Robert Stephens.
Understandably, Hollywood wanted a piece of her, and she wasn’t the least bit overshadowed by Richard Burton and Liz Taylor in The VIPs. She’s just as good in Jack Clayton’s sublime kitchen-sink drama The Pumpkin Eater. As the semi-gormless Philpot, Smith does full justice to Penelope Mortimer’s jolting novel about delusion, domesticity and infidelity (Philpot’s a thoroughly modern narcissist who, when not bending the ear of the hero, Jo, is secretly shagging Jo’s husband). Smith ensures that the character of Philpot is both chilling and an absolute hoot.
Esta historia es de la edición September 28, 2024 de The Independent.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición September 28, 2024 de The Independent.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Why rugby must learn to cherish outliers Argentina
The story goes that the sobriquet by which the Argentine national rugby team has become commonly known came about as a case of mistaken identity. The tale told is of a South African journalist watching a touring side in the 1960s and seeking a snappy name to assist him at second mention.
Trump touts friendship with Putin in Zelensky meeting
Donald Trump boasted of a \"very good relationship\" with both Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin yesterday as he hosted the Ukrainian leader for a meeting at his New York City skyscraper.
Police fail many victims of stalking, watchdog reports
Police are trivialising stalking and letting victims down, watchdogs have warned, as figures show one in five women are targeted.
Sycamore Gap tree saplings to branch out across Britain
Its destruction triggered outcry and sadness across the nation but now, 12 months on from the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree, saplings of it are to be planted across the UK. Custodians of the much-photographed and visited sycamore say they hope the venture, which comes exactly a year after the tree was chopped down, will create a new chapter of hope in its legacy.
Cyclist killed man, 78, after row about pavement riding
A cyclist was bravely chased down by members of the public after he launched a fatal single-punch attack on an older man in a row about riding on the pavement.
Britain's youngest knife killers handed life terms
Two boys thought to be Britain's youngest knife killers who stabbed a stranger to death in a \"horrific and shocking\" machete murder have each been handed life sentences.
Road and rail hit by flooding as 60mph winds predicted
The Met Office has issued a weather warning for winds of more than 60mph this weekend as parts of England slowly recover from the impact of torrential rain and flooding.
Van Gogh painting 'souped' hours after protesters jailed
Just Stop Oil activists have thrown soup over two Vincent van Gogh paintings just hours after their fellow protesters were sentenced to prison time for doing the same.
A master of prose that is both rich and terribly cheap
Boris Johnson has written a memoir - and there is no doubt, writes Robert McCrum, that the former PM's account of his political career will be 'self-centred to an astounding degree'
Johnson mulled military raid on Dutch warehouse
Former prime minister Boris Johnson considered launching \"aquatic raid\" on a warehouse in the Netherlands to retrieve