Maggie Smith

A Biography

By: Michael Coveney

Narrated by: Sian Thomas

Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

This perfect gift audiobook for fans of Downton Abbey will take them behind the scenes of the Grand Dame who brings the Dowager Countess to life.

No one does glamour, severity, girlish charm, or tight-lipped witticism better than Dame Maggie Smith. Michael Coveney's biography shines a light on the life and career of a truly remarkable performer, one whose stage and screen career spans six decades.

From her days as a West End star of comedy and revue, Dame Maggie's path would cross with those of the greatest actors, playwrights, and directors of the era. Whether stealing scenes from Richard Burton, answering back to Laurence Olivier, or playing opposite Judi Dench in Breath of Life, her career can be seen as a "Who's Who" of British theatre. Her film and television career has been just as starry.

From the title character in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and the meddling chaperone in A Room With a View to the Harry Potter films in which she played Minerva McGonagall (as she put it "Miss Jean Brodie in a wizard's hat") and the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films in which she played the wise Muriel Donnelly, Smith has thrilled, engaged, and made audiences laugh. As Violet Crawley, the formidable Dowager Countess of Downton Abbey, she conquered millions more. Paradoxically she remains an enigmatic figure, rarely appearing in public.

Michael Coveney's absorbing biography, written with the actress' blessing and drawing on personal archives, as well as interviews with immediate family and close friends, is a portrait of one of the greatest actors of our time.

©2015 Michael Coveney (P)2015 Orion Publishing Group Ltd

got rather a drag

got to be a drag and repetative.. I love Dame Maggie, though. .wonderful person and actress

The story of Margaret Smith

I have always loved Maggie Smith, I do so even more now! Since she is shy in public, virtually everything about her private life is new and surprising. The narrators intonation left no doubt as to who she was portraying.
I look forward to finding the movies I have not yet seen as well as reseeing ones I already know!

There's no one like "Maggie Smith" !

I've worked in the arts for over thirty-years in Canada and had the wonderful opportunity to see Maggie Smith in "Mid Summer's Night Dream" at Stratford in the mid 1970's...I've been a Maggie Smith fan ever since!
Michael Coveney's book is a romp through the history of the British theatre of the 1960's-2000's. Maggie's influence has been HUGE and understanding her place in British theatre, to Stratford and then the international community is well documented in this book.

Despite her recent frame in "Downton Abbey" or the "Harry Potter film series " Maggie Smith has made her mark as a veteran actor, regardless if it is stage, screen or television to leave her footprints...and there is no one like "Maggie Smith"!

From listening to the first few chapters-I knew that I didn't have time to "read" this biography and so enjoyed the "audible version of S.ian Thomas (narrator) she is amazing and sounds like "Maggie" when you get to hear Maggie's actual thoughts, comments or quips. So enjoyed this book...I need to go back and listen to a few chapters again...as I feel asleep.

Steeped in Theater History

Apparently Smith authorized the biography but gave Coveney very few interviews but did allow him access to family, friends and colleagues. Smith appears to be very reclusive. There is not much information on Smith’s private life; the book is all about her professional life.

Smith was born in 1934 to a working class family. Her mother told her she would never become an actress “with a face like that” She was in plays in high school and in her late teens started to work in the repertory English theater. The author compares and discusses what he calls the three greatest English actresses of the generation: Vanessa Redgrave, Maggie Smith and Judi Dench. Coveney discuss their different styles and the plays, movies etc., they have played together in. The last part of the book covers her roles in the Harry Potter films and “Downton Abbey.”

I rarely read biographies of actors so I have little to compare this too. But I felt Coveney just gave boilerplate descriptions of her various roles and failed to dig into her private life. I do realize Smith is reclusive and very private but I feel a good biographer overcomes that problem and digs deep into the subject’s life. I felt the author should have done a better job with this biography. Sian Thomas did an excellent job narrating the story.

Needed more interest

I really enjoyed the epilogue--wish it were longer. I love Maggie Smith but this I'm sorry to say was boring.

Not my cup of tea

Love Maggie, but the book was a yawn. I will try to finish it later.

Maggie Smith

It’s dull and poorly delivered. I didn’t really enjoy it much. It is interesting who Maggie Smith has worked with over the years but I do not think it is well written or well read.

Love letter from a fan

What disappointed you about Maggie Smith?

Nothing about Maggie Smith disappointed me. She never fails to be a wonderful performer.

What could Michael Coveney have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Drool less!! this is a book full of adulation from a lovesick fan. I got no sense of the real person behind "Maggie Smith"

What three words best describe Sian Thomas’s voice?

Standard Broadcast English.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment, I wanted to know more about the human being rather than a detailed review of her career.

Any additional comments?

This author obviously idolizes Maggie Smith. However, she is a human being, complex and more than a brilliant actress