Top 10 Best Maggie Smith Movies and TV Shows

As the sharp-witted Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, in this award-winning series about a British aristocratic family, Smith delivered some of the most quoted one-liners of the entire show. The character also returned in the films.

As the strict but fair Professor McGonagall, Smith played one of the most respected supporting characters in the whole franchise, appearing in nearly all eight films.

As one of a group of British retirees spending their old age in a renovated hotel in India, Smith plays an initially narrow-minded woman who gradually opens up to the new culture around her.

As an unconventional teacher who shapes her pupils in her own way, Smith delivered the role that won her the Oscar for Best Actress. The film explores the line between inspiration and manipulation.

In this adaptation of E.M. Forster's novel, Smith plays a strict, somewhat meddling chaperone. The film is one of the best-known Merchant Ivory productions and earned her an Oscar nomination.

As the strict Mother Superior who takes an undercover lounge singer into her convent, Smith plays one of her best-known comic roles. Both films combine music with warm humor.

As one of the guests during a murder investigation at a British country estate, Smith plays a key role in Robert Altman's ensemble drama, which combines crime with sharp class satire.

As an eccentric homeless woman who lives for years in a van in a writer's driveway, Smith leads this tragicomedy based on true events.

As a former opera singer who resists a reunion with her ex-husband in a retirement home for musicians, Smith plays one of her more touching later roles.

In this drama about a group of survivors recovering in an Italian villa, Smith plays a romance novelist with a mysterious past. The role won her an Emmy Award.