0:00:20 > 0:00:24As one of Britain's best loved and most versatile actresses,
0:00:24 > 0:00:28Dame Maggie Smith has been delighting audiences
0:00:28 > 0:00:29for over 60 years.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34She is the double Oscar-winning queen of the comically arched
0:00:34 > 0:00:35eyebrow.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39The spiky, funny girl, who gave the acting world no choice
0:00:39 > 0:00:41but to take her seriously.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44The fact that she created some of her most popular
0:00:44 > 0:00:49characters in her 70s is just another testament to her talents.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52So how did this extraordinary career begin?
0:00:52 > 0:00:56Well, let's start with Maggie telling interviewer Clive Goodwin
0:00:56 > 0:01:01about the early days from a programme called Acting In The '60s.
0:01:09 > 0:01:14The very first definite step was when I was still at school.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18They had a frightfully good thing that when you'd finished general school certificates,
0:01:18 > 0:01:21usually you had two weeks at the end of term, which was kind of dead
0:01:21 > 0:01:24time, and I immediately went to the Oxford Playhouse,
0:01:24 > 0:01:28where I got a job, which was for two weeks,
0:01:28 > 0:01:31to be in The Happiest Days Of Your Life.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36To play the Scots girl, you, know, Elizabeth Colhoun.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39This was immediately trodden on, and I wasn't allowed to do it.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43So then, I decided to go to drama school.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47I had made up my mind to do that anyway before I left school.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52They started a drama school in Oxford where I lived.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55It was attached at that time to the Playhouse.
0:01:57 > 0:02:02And I went there for two years. I wanted very much to go to RADA.
0:02:02 > 0:02:07It was everybody's dream to go to RADA, and my parents, quite rightly,
0:02:07 > 0:02:12didn't want me to go to London when I was 16, and live on my own.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16And from drama school you went where?
0:02:16 > 0:02:21When I was at the Playhouse, I used to work in university
0:02:21 > 0:02:25productions, because they did an awful lot there,
0:02:25 > 0:02:27and they did lots of cabarets and revues, and they were
0:02:27 > 0:02:32all run by Ned Sherrin and Desmond O'Donovan, people like that.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35And I did those endlessly.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37If you were bright enough at Oxford,
0:02:37 > 0:02:39you could almost do weekly rep around the colleges.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43You could get enough productions to do a term, to keep you very busy.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48- And you were playing light parts, comedy parts?- Yes, always.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53I was always, always in revue and cabaret. I don't know why.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55I did do Twelfth Night.
0:02:55 > 0:03:01- I suppose that was one of the first, the earliest things I did.- Playing?
0:03:01 > 0:03:03Playing Viola.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07And then the revues I was in were taken up to Edinburgh,
0:03:07 > 0:03:10and we did Fringe productions.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12I think it was the first Fringe shows up there.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14It was through one of those late-night revues that you
0:03:14 > 0:03:19- got the mythical break.- The break.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24Yes, it was in... One of them we did on the Fringe, and they brought
0:03:24 > 0:03:27down to London to the Watergate, which doesn't exist any more.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30The Watergate Theatre. I can't remember which one it was called.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34I think it was Oxford Eight or one of those things.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37Which was seen by the American director, who then took me
0:03:37 > 0:03:42- to Broadway. It was called New Faces. - And was it successful?
0:03:42 > 0:03:44It was moderately successful, yes.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48It was rather sad because everybody in it expected it to be a huge
0:03:48 > 0:03:52success, as the one before had been, and obviously it wasn't.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56And everybody who went into thought, "Oh, we're going to come out stars," because...
0:03:56 > 0:03:59- Did you think that? - I don't know what I think.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02I was so overwhelmed at the thought of going.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06In actual fact, I didn't enjoy it at all, but I was so excited by it.
0:04:06 > 0:04:07I thought anything could happen.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11I suppose I must have thought I would come back a great, huge star.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15- And then you came back to London. - I came back for a holiday, actually.
0:04:15 > 0:04:21Then I did a television here, called Boy Meets Girl, which
0:04:21 > 0:04:23Silvio Narizzano directed.
0:04:25 > 0:04:30And also Michael Codron asked me to do Share My Lettuce with Kenneth Williams.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32And I decided to stay.
0:04:32 > 0:04:37Again, more light comedy. Was this what you wanted to do?
0:04:37 > 0:04:44I didn't really want to do it. Yet it became... It became a kind of habit.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48Everybody thought of me in that way.
0:04:48 > 0:04:53They thought of me as always in revue or a revue artist.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57And it became absolutely stuck.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00I don't think I really thought about it very much.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03I think I was so overwhelmed
0:05:03 > 0:05:06and so carried away with myself.
0:05:06 > 0:05:11- At working at all?- At working at all, yes, that I was rather grateful for that.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15Now we're going to have a look at a clip from one of your films,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17The Pumpkin Eater.
0:05:17 > 0:05:22You play the au pair girl at a rather unconventional household.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25The mother is played by Anne Bancroft,
0:05:25 > 0:05:29and you are discussing the merits of her husband, played by Peter Finch.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32You're discussing his merits as a father.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Wives don't usually like me. I like them, that's the funny thing.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41I seem to worry them somehow.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45I don't know, they get so ratty, people's wives.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47Funny thing is, I like them better than their husbands.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51Do you think that's funny? Perhaps I'm not normal.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55I'm sure I'm normal, really. Perhaps it's just un-abnormal.
0:05:56 > 0:06:03I can't see how I can be, can you? I mean, I've been told I'm frigid.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07I don't see how you can tell. Honestly, how can you tell?
0:06:07 > 0:06:10I shouldn't think you are.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13Anyway, you don't look it.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16I think you're marvellous. I really do.
0:06:16 > 0:06:21I think you're absolutely marvellous. You are so capable.
0:06:21 > 0:06:26All you do, all the children and everything. The way you cope.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31Of course, Jake is the most fabulous husband and father.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34He has been the most fabulous husband...
0:06:34 > 0:06:36- Can I get into...- Oh!
0:06:36 > 0:06:39The most fabulous husband.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42- How many are his?- Er, one.- One.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45One is his.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48- The others aren't his? - No, they're not.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53Still, he's a wonderful father to them all, isn't he?
0:06:53 > 0:06:54Do you enjoy filming?
0:06:55 > 0:06:58- Not very much, no.- Why not? - I don't know.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03I think you have to be a screen actress.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06I really don't think I am. You have to have a completely
0:07:06 > 0:07:09different outlook.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11By the time I get on the floor after two and a half hours
0:07:11 > 0:07:14of make-up, I find it impossible.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17And also the lack of contact, the fact there isn't an audience,
0:07:17 > 0:07:21the fact it is all a question of how you look.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25People are always, always worried, always around you all the time,
0:07:25 > 0:07:30trying to make you look like this. Your costume isn't right.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33I don't know, I found by the end of the day that one's morale was
0:07:33 > 0:07:36so low that maybe the camera's
0:07:36 > 0:07:41so close, that you feel you can't do anything because it will look ugly.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44You get so concerned with the fact you are in the wrong light,
0:07:44 > 0:07:49or if you do that it's unattractive on camera, and you mustn't do this.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52You get so uninhibited, at least I do, that I tend not to do anything.
0:07:52 > 0:07:59I always feel... I'm fine in a film if I'm acting a neurotic person or a small,
0:07:59 > 0:08:02tight, shy person. That's not quite so difficult.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07Maggie may not have liked film acting
0:08:07 > 0:08:09but the film world liked her,
0:08:09 > 0:08:13and two years after that interview, she won the Best Actress Oscar
0:08:13 > 0:08:17for an unforgettable performance in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22Later she would discuss her triumph with Michael Aspel
0:08:22 > 0:08:25in the 1970 programme Personal Cinema.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29The conversation here begins with a question about her Brodie
0:08:29 > 0:08:33co-star and then husband, Robert Stephens.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41Your husband is a distinguished actor
0:08:41 > 0:08:43and a busy one too. Do you ever meet?
0:08:43 > 0:08:44Yes, we meet quite a lot at the moment
0:08:44 > 0:08:48because we're working together. So we do meet, yes.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51You've worked together more than once.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54- You were together in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie.- Yes, we were in that
0:08:54 > 0:08:56and we have worked together a lot at the National.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00That is where we're working now, so we do really see quite a lot of each other.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03Do you enjoy it? It's obviously nice to see each other.
0:09:03 > 0:09:09Yes, because when Robert was filming himself, I didn't see him at all.
0:09:09 > 0:09:10What about filming?
0:09:10 > 0:09:13You're not too keen on the rigours of filming, are you?
0:09:13 > 0:09:17No, because I think rigours is exactly it.
0:09:17 > 0:09:18I think it's...
0:09:20 > 0:09:24I have great admiration for people who work only in the films,
0:09:24 > 0:09:30because I think it's just a killing existence to work those hours.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34Also it's very isolating because you only meet the people you're
0:09:34 > 0:09:39working with in the unit. You can't have any other existence at all.
0:09:39 > 0:09:40There must be advantages.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44What about the range of characters and parts you can play in the cinema.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47- That you can play in the cinema?- Hmm.
0:09:47 > 0:09:48Well, that's true,
0:09:48 > 0:09:52but there are an awful lot of things you can play in the theatre, and there
0:09:52 > 0:09:57really aren't an awful lot of parts for women in the film industry at the moment.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01I suppose the lack of teamwork and cohesion, continuity,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04- must be one of the great drawbacks? - Yes, that is true.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06Again, it's difficult for me to judge
0:10:06 > 0:10:09because Brodie is the longest film, the longest part I've
0:10:09 > 0:10:11ever had in a film and therefore I did get to know people,
0:10:11 > 0:10:15I didn't just drift in and out of the studio for two days here or
0:10:15 > 0:10:17a week there.
0:10:17 > 0:10:22So, it did have more continuity than anything else I've worked on.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25You've got more awards than most people can fit on one mantelpiece.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27What is your feeling about awards?
0:10:29 > 0:10:32I don't really know. It seems to me...
0:10:32 > 0:10:36- I suppose you're talking about Oscar awards.- Well, and practically everything else
0:10:36 > 0:10:40- I read you seem to have picked up. - Well, awards...
0:10:41 > 0:10:47are always... I mean, they're nice to have and they're very rewarding to have,
0:10:47 > 0:10:51when you realise you've been awarded them
0:10:51 > 0:10:53by people who are in your own profession.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58Therefore, one can't treat them lightly.
0:10:58 > 0:11:03They are very meaningful, as far as that is concerned.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07When people ask you, "What will it mean to you now you've got this
0:11:07 > 0:11:11"award," it's difficult to say what it means.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16It just means you want to go on and hope you can live up to it, really.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18Yes, that's the thing.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20I suppose it stimulates in one way and the other thing is,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23- "Oh, my goodness, I've got to live up to it."- Yes.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27You won the Oscar for Jean Brodie.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29You weren't able to collect it yourself, were you?
0:11:29 > 0:11:32- No, because I was opening here in a play.- Yes.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35Have you been in America when the awards are handed out?
0:11:35 > 0:11:38- What sort of atmosphere is it? - No, I haven't.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42We were there in Los Angeles on tour with the National Theatre,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45when the nominations came out.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49That was hysterical enough, so I really,
0:11:49 > 0:11:54I dread to think what happens on the actual occasion.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57Even seeing the replay of the Academy Awards,
0:11:57 > 0:12:01which we saw on television, one felt nervous then.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05We knew the result, but it seems odd that kind of mounting...
0:12:06 > 0:12:09I suppose that really is the one award that nobody knows
0:12:09 > 0:12:11anything about anyway, until the last moment.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14Maggie Smith, the interesting thing is, with all your acclaim,
0:12:14 > 0:12:15you're not over jubilant.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17You've been described as "Miss Downbeat"
0:12:17 > 0:12:19that you look on life with "great suspicion",
0:12:19 > 0:12:22"the brighter the prospects, the deeper the gloom."
0:12:22 > 0:12:25What do you say about that?
0:12:25 > 0:12:28I suppose it must be true. I don't know why.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Perhaps it's...
0:12:30 > 0:12:34Perhaps it's because, you know, when things go well
0:12:34 > 0:12:37it is a bit alarming.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39I sometimes think that I've had so much luck,
0:12:39 > 0:12:42so much good fortune that...
0:12:42 > 0:12:44er...
0:12:44 > 0:12:45it frightens me, somehow.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49I always feel there's got to be...
0:12:49 > 0:12:52Something, you know, must go wrong somewhere.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55Maybe I'm just always waiting for it.
0:12:55 > 0:12:56Well, it hasn't happened yet.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59Several years ago, after yet another successful first night...
0:12:59 > 0:13:01- That's not wood. It's plastic, unfortunately.- Oh.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03I think it was the rehearsal of Anouilh,
0:13:03 > 0:13:05and somebody asked what would you do next,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08and you said, "I think I'll go to the pictures. What's on?"
0:13:08 > 0:13:09Is that your normal form of relaxation?
0:13:09 > 0:13:11Well, er...
0:13:11 > 0:13:14It was then, I must say.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16Because that was a long run.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19Believe me, when you're in a long run
0:13:19 > 0:13:24you want to get out and see as much as you can and relax.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28At the moment, and working the way I do at the moment,
0:13:28 > 0:13:30I very rarely have that time.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32One rehearses during the day...
0:13:32 > 0:13:34You go on tour.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37It's not all that easy.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41What about filming one of these Restoration comedies that you revel in?
0:13:41 > 0:13:44I don't think they would film.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48Well, Taming Of The Shrew worked very well.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51- That's not Restoration, but it... - Yes, I can see that.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55Maybe you could film a play like the one I'm in now,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58which is a Farquar comedy which is much later on
0:13:58 > 0:14:00and is much simpler.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03But I really don't think anybody would want to see these people
0:14:03 > 0:14:07with snuffboxes and fans waving about all over the place.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09I think it'd be just boring.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11And also the plots are so complicated
0:14:11 > 0:14:13and the language is so convoluted,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16nobody could be bothered, I don't think.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18You took a year off completely,
0:14:18 > 0:14:20- when your first child was born. - Mm.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23Was that hell? I mean being away from work?
0:14:23 > 0:14:25To be honest, yes, it was.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27It wasn't hell to begin with.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31And then I got more and more moody and grumpy.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35And I realised it was just silly to try and stay at home.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38But, in actual fact, it was marvellous because
0:14:38 > 0:14:43going back after being away from work for that length of time,
0:14:43 > 0:14:45I felt in some way that
0:14:45 > 0:14:48I'd recharged my batteries somehow.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50The break was good.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52You can work too much.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54You spent six weeks recently
0:14:54 > 0:14:56in Los Angeles with the National Theatre.
0:14:56 > 0:14:57Do you think it helped you -
0:14:57 > 0:15:00making that contact with American audiences -
0:15:00 > 0:15:02to win the Oscar for Miss Jean Brodie?
0:15:02 > 0:15:06I think it probably did have a lot to do with it, because...
0:15:06 > 0:15:08the theatre itself got coverage
0:15:08 > 0:15:10in the newspapers there.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14And I think, on the whole, people really don't know who I am.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18I just think it sort of jogged their memory in some way.
0:15:18 > 0:15:19Yes.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21Well, we're going to see a clip
0:15:21 > 0:15:23from Miss Jean Brodie -
0:15:23 > 0:15:26a very interesting clip, which you specially requested -
0:15:26 > 0:15:27where you and Celia Johnson,
0:15:27 > 0:15:31as the highly disapproving headmistress,
0:15:31 > 0:15:34confront each other about the letter that has been sent,
0:15:34 > 0:15:38or hidden so that she will find it, by one of girls.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40- Thank you.- Let's see.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43Do you know what this is?
0:15:43 > 0:15:48It would appear to be a piece of blue paper with writing on it in pencil.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50It is, in fact, a letter.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52It was found by Miss McKenzie in a library book.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54She glanced at it, but after the first sentence,
0:15:54 > 0:15:55she dare not actually read it.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57She brought it instantly to me.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00Yes... Is it addressed to you?
0:16:00 > 0:16:01No, Miss Brodie.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05It is addressed to Mr Lowther, but it is signed by you.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10- I shall begin. - Oh, please do.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12Of course, I realise it is a forgery.
0:16:12 > 0:16:14It is the work of a child.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16SHE CLEARS HER THROAT
0:16:16 > 0:16:18"My dear delightful Gordon.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21"Your letter has moved me deeply, as you may imagine,
0:16:21 > 0:16:24"but, alas, I must ever decline to be Mrs Lowther.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26"My reasons are twofold.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28"I am dedicated to my girls,
0:16:28 > 0:16:30"as is Madam Pavlova,
0:16:30 > 0:16:32"and there was another in my life.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34"He is Teddy Lloyd.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38"Intimacy has never taken place with him, he is married to another.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41"We are not lovers, but we know the truth.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44"However, I was proud of giving myself to you
0:16:44 > 0:16:47"when you came and took me in the bracken
0:16:47 > 0:16:49"while the storm raged about us.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52"If I am in a certain condition
0:16:52 > 0:16:54"I shall place the infant in the care
0:16:54 > 0:16:56"of a worthy shepherd and his wife.
0:16:56 > 0:16:57"I may permit misconduct
0:16:57 > 0:17:00"to occur again from time to time as an outlet,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03"because I am in my prime.
0:17:03 > 0:17:09"We can also have many a...breezy day in the fishing boat at sea.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12"We must keep a sharp lookout for Miss Mackay, however,
0:17:12 > 0:17:14"as she is rather narrow,
0:17:14 > 0:17:18"which arises from an ignorance of culture and the Italian scene.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22"I love to hear you singing Hey, Johnnie Cope,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25"but were I to receive a proposal of marriage tomorrow
0:17:25 > 0:17:28"from the Lord Lyon, King of Arms, I would decline it.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32"Allow me, in conclusion, to congratulate you warmly
0:17:32 > 0:17:36"on your sexual intercourse, as well as your singing.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38"With fondest joy, Jean Brodie."
0:17:40 > 0:17:42Is this what your girls, your set,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45have learned under your auspices, Miss Brodie?
0:17:49 > 0:17:51It is a literary collaboration.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53Two separate hands are involved.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56One of the authors slants her tail consonants in an unorthodox manner
0:17:56 > 0:17:58and the other does not.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00Also, the paper seems somewhat aged.
0:18:02 > 0:18:03Is that all you have to say?
0:18:03 > 0:18:05What else is there to say?
0:18:05 > 0:18:08Two little girls at the age of budding sexual fantasy
0:18:08 > 0:18:10have concocted a romance for themselves.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13They've chosen me as a romantic symbol.
0:18:14 > 0:18:15Is that so surprising?
0:18:15 > 0:18:19You and Celia Johnson, and Gordon Jackson hovering nervously
0:18:19 > 0:18:20in the background.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22Lovely Kelvinside accents there.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24Did they take long to perfect?
0:18:24 > 0:18:26No, we had a very good dialogue coach.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28A very good girl called Margaret Gordon
0:18:28 > 0:18:31who was at the Gillespie school in Edinburgh,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34which is, in actual fact, the school where
0:18:34 > 0:18:36a teacher like Miss Brodie did exist.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38Oh, I see.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40Now, your own style invites bizarre descriptions.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43For example, "a voice like an undisciplined slate pencil",
0:18:43 > 0:18:46but you sang like a good 'un in Oh! What A Lovely War, didn't you?
0:18:46 > 0:18:48Pre-recorded, I hasten to add.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51What would you not turn your talents to?
0:18:54 > 0:18:56I don't know.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58I mean...
0:18:58 > 0:19:00Give me a start.
0:19:00 > 0:19:01Do you mean would I romp around nude,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04or would I be in one of those kind of films?
0:19:04 > 0:19:05For example.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08Well, for example, no. I don't think I would.
0:19:10 > 0:19:15I think I'd have a go at anything if it were interesting...enough.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17And if I liked the script.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20One of the scripts Smith did like
0:19:20 > 0:19:23was a film version of the Graham Greene novel
0:19:23 > 0:19:24Travels With My Aunt.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28Katharine Hepburn had been due to star as Aunt Augusta Bertram,
0:19:28 > 0:19:32but when she fell out with the producers, Maggie got the part.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35The role earned her another Oscar nomination,
0:19:35 > 0:19:39which she discussed on Parkinson in 1973,
0:19:39 > 0:19:43alongside fellow guest Sir John Betjeman.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45What exactly does that mean to you,
0:19:45 > 0:19:47when you hear that you've been nominated?
0:19:47 > 0:19:48Are you pleased, or...?
0:19:48 > 0:19:51Well, yes, I'm...I'm very, very pleased
0:19:51 > 0:19:55and it's because I was very much last minute in the film.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58- Yes, Katharine Hepburn was due to star.- Yes, exactly.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01And for reasons that I don't think are unclear to anybody
0:20:01 > 0:20:03except for Miss Hepburn obviously,
0:20:03 > 0:20:08and the powers that be in MGM - I don't really know what happened.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13But, I am delighted because there were many struggles in the film.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17The fact of the age, and the make-up and many, many things.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20And also I'm very pleased for Bobby Fryer,
0:20:20 > 0:20:24- who in actual fact produced Brodie... - Jean Brodie, right.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28..and who he really fought tooth and nail for me to play the part.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30And this is also a film of his,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33so I'm very glad for him.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35Do you think you've got a chance?
0:20:35 > 0:20:37I honestly don't think so, this time.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39- Why not?- I didn't before.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41I just don't think so, this time. I really, really don't.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44No. Will you be going to the ceremony?
0:20:44 > 0:20:47- No, I can't. I'll be working here. - Of course, you're working.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49- For which I'm deeply relieved. - Really?
0:20:49 > 0:20:50Because I have been there,
0:20:50 > 0:20:53I was there when we were playing in Los Angeles,
0:20:53 > 0:20:57and I had to present an award to, in actual fact, John Mills.
0:20:57 > 0:21:03And it is the most terrifying experience ever.
0:21:03 > 0:21:04Why?
0:21:04 > 0:21:08I don't know. I think it's probably because it's the one award
0:21:08 > 0:21:11in the world that people really do not know...
0:21:11 > 0:21:13They just do not know.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16And there is something so...
0:21:17 > 0:21:19..naked and unkind.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23The cameras go in on all the people who are likely to get it
0:21:23 > 0:21:27and the hope in their faces...
0:21:27 > 0:21:29and then when it goes, you know...
0:21:30 > 0:21:33And they've all got those stitched on smiles.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35Well, they obviously want it so desperately.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39And, of course, there it does mean much more than it does to us here.
0:21:39 > 0:21:46An Oscar is a tremendous, tremendous award to get, really.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49But did it mean anything for you, though in real terms, Maggie,
0:21:49 > 0:21:51when you won it for Jean Brodie? In terms of work?
0:21:51 > 0:21:54Did all of a sudden people start ringing you up.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57No. There is a kind of legend
0:21:57 > 0:21:59which has happened since the Oscars -
0:21:59 > 0:22:03they always say that you DON'T work very much after it.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05I don't understand why.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07I think it goes back to the fact
0:22:07 > 0:22:12that if you won an Oscar in the old days, let us say,
0:22:12 > 0:22:14your salary immediately jumped enormously.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18And, of course, that cannot happen now, it's unrealistic.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21So the money thing doesn't come into it.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23But there is this odd thing
0:22:23 > 0:22:27that you don't get offered work because of an Oscar.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30- I don't know why. - What do you do with the statuette?
0:22:30 > 0:22:31Put it on a sideboard at home?
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Mine is actually holding a door open.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36- Really?- Yes!
0:22:36 > 0:22:38No, it's very friendly, actually.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40It's extremely useful for it.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43- Is that gold? - No, it's not gold.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45It's extremely heavy.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48And no doubt very useful if intruders, come in.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51Can I ask you about playing comedy, erm...Maggie?
0:22:51 > 0:22:53Because it delights you, obviously.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56- To do comedy. You like doing comedy. - Yes, I do.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59Does one necessarily have to be a funny person to be a comedienne?
0:22:59 > 0:23:05No, I think, in actual fact, an awful lot of people who are in comedy
0:23:05 > 0:23:07- are very serious. - Yes.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10It's an old saying that comedy is a serious business, but it is, really.
0:23:10 > 0:23:11Yes.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14Let's... Go on.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16Just...in a moment. Can we show a scene, first of all?
0:23:16 > 0:23:21Which shows Miss Smith in her role as a comedienne?
0:23:21 > 0:23:24- I have your permission to do that, Sir John?- Rather!
0:23:24 > 0:23:26- I'd love to see it.- All right, fine. It's coming up now.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29And it's from the new film of Maggie Smith.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34Henry!
0:23:34 > 0:23:35Oh!
0:23:35 > 0:23:37Good morning, Henry!
0:23:37 > 0:23:38- Aunt!- Where is Wordsworth?
0:23:38 > 0:23:40In Paris.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42Do you know what that bastard did?
0:23:42 > 0:23:43He mixed pot with my mother's ashes!
0:23:45 > 0:23:48- No regard! - Poor Henry.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51Poor Henry? Poor mother! I mean, poor...
0:23:51 > 0:23:53- Well, poor Angelica, you mean! - Yes!
0:23:53 > 0:23:55Well, now, calm down, Henry. Calm down, Henry.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58What is done, cannot be undone.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01They're putting all the blame on poor Wordsworth.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03Well, you may be in serious trouble too, Aunt Augusta.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05And so may you, Henry.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07A spot of unpleasantness, at least.
0:24:07 > 0:24:08You know the press.
0:24:08 > 0:24:09The press?
0:24:09 > 0:24:14Yes. "Bank manager conceals pot in mother's ashes?"
0:24:14 > 0:24:16That's the sort of slander.
0:24:16 > 0:24:17TRAIN CLATTERS
0:24:17 > 0:24:19I have... I have a small...
0:24:19 > 0:24:22I have a small commission...
0:24:22 > 0:24:26I have a small commission, which necessitates my going to Paris.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30All things considered, I think it best if you
0:24:30 > 0:24:32come along with me.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34I booked two seats on the BA three o'clock flight.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36Paris?
0:24:36 > 0:24:38But, well, I'm not accustomed to foreign travel.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42You'll take to it quickly enough in MY company.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45But...m-m-my dahlias?!
0:24:46 > 0:24:48Pack, Henry.
0:24:48 > 0:24:49Pack?
0:24:52 > 0:24:53Pack.
0:25:01 > 0:25:06APPLAUSE
0:25:06 > 0:25:10I think the first thing that should be explained, though, Maggie,
0:25:10 > 0:25:12in case people think it's a different person sitting here,
0:25:12 > 0:25:14is...you're playing a 70-year-old woman
0:25:14 > 0:25:16Of an indeterminate age, she's described.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19Where do you get that voice from, by the way? Where does that...?
0:25:19 > 0:25:22I've no idea, actually.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25It was, as I said, all in such a rush.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29I think once I've got the make-up and those extraordinary costumes,
0:25:29 > 0:25:31which were marvellous -
0:25:31 > 0:25:36and done by Anthony Powell who did the sets for Private Lives -
0:25:36 > 0:25:39once it all got together it just, sort of, came.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43That's amazing. Once you're dressed in the part, the voice...
0:25:43 > 0:25:46- Yes, it's a physical thing. - The voice just grew out of it?
0:25:46 > 0:25:47Just grew out of it.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50The Academy Award eluded Maggie on that occasion,
0:25:50 > 0:25:55but five years later she did win the Best Supporting Actress
0:25:55 > 0:25:58starring opposite Michael Caine in California Suite.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02The 1980s were a blur of awards -
0:26:02 > 0:26:06Maggie won the best actress BAFTA three years in succession
0:26:06 > 0:26:09for A Private Function, A Room With A View,
0:26:09 > 0:26:11and The Lonely Passion Of Judith Herne.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16Perhaps not surprisingly, after a run like that,
0:26:16 > 0:26:21the 1990s saw her made a dame for Services To The Performing Arts.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25And so it was as Dame Maggie Smith,
0:26:25 > 0:26:29that she made this appearance on Barry Norman's Film '93,
0:26:29 > 0:26:30looking back on her career
0:26:30 > 0:26:33and discussing her role in The Secret Garden.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39What you have been doing lately, it seems to me,
0:26:39 > 0:26:43is alternating smaller independent movies like
0:26:43 > 0:26:44The Lonely Passion Of Judith Herne
0:26:44 > 0:26:47and now The Secret Garden which we'll come to in a minute,
0:26:47 > 0:26:49with glossy Hollywood movies
0:26:49 > 0:26:52like Hook and Sister Act and now Sister Act II.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54Now, is this a game plan?
0:26:54 > 0:26:55No. No, it's not by design, at all.
0:26:55 > 0:26:57Quite honestly I just go where...
0:26:57 > 0:26:59If there's work, I do it.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02And if there isn't work, I don't do it. It's as simple as that.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05And I have never worked by design or with any plan in mind, at all.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08It's just these things come up
0:27:08 > 0:27:11and I kind of go ahead and do them.
0:27:11 > 0:27:12For instance, Hook.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14The 93-year-old Wendy Darling.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18Hook, I did, because they had a lot of trouble finding a Wendy.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21And they went on and on and on
0:27:21 > 0:27:23and really I blame Anthony Powell,
0:27:23 > 0:27:25who's a dear, dear friend,
0:27:25 > 0:27:27who was doing the clothes
0:27:27 > 0:27:30and he kept saying that I could do it.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33And, finally, Steven said, "Well, how old is Maggie Smith?"
0:27:33 > 0:27:36And Anthony said without blinking, "96."
0:27:36 > 0:27:39So, I sort of went ahead and did it.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42It was hell, actually.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45But you did it as an act of charity to help the poor struggling young
0:27:45 > 0:27:47- Steven Spielberg? - No, no. Oh, no, no.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51Not at all. I mean, I got the part and I was delighted to have it.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54Otherwise, I mean, I would never work with someone like Steven Spielberg.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56That in itself was interesting.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58I mean, it was extraordinary.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00He works at such speed always.
0:28:00 > 0:28:01He wants to get on.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04He's got film coming out of his fingers almost.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08A strange, strange thing.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11Why have you been playing very old ladies lately. I mean, 93 in Hook...
0:28:11 > 0:28:13I think, because I am an old lady!
0:28:13 > 0:28:15Oh, nonsense.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17You are Maggie Smith and you are in your prime.
0:28:17 > 0:28:22No, no. I think this is... I think it just happens.
0:28:22 > 0:28:23I am always...
0:28:23 > 0:28:26I'm always playing these sort of rather
0:28:26 > 0:28:28sour, faded women.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30And I'm always in corsets.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32And I'm always in wigs
0:28:32 > 0:28:34and I'm always in those buttoned boots.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36It's sort of like a kind of...
0:28:36 > 0:28:39It's typecasting, I suppose.
0:28:39 > 0:28:40I have...
0:28:40 > 0:28:44I can't remember when I last appeared in modern dress.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47You know that it's often said that people become actors
0:28:47 > 0:28:48because they have a certain shyness,
0:28:48 > 0:28:52and are unsure of who they actually are. Would that be true of you?
0:28:52 > 0:28:54I think it...
0:28:54 > 0:28:56Yes, I think it's very, very true.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58And the awful thing...
0:28:58 > 0:29:00The really awful thing is that it doesn't get any better.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03It's one of those weird things.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06Because you never, never do find out who you are.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10I was told that when you were doing The Lonely Passion Of Judith Herne,
0:29:10 > 0:29:13which I imagine you must be very pleased with,
0:29:13 > 0:29:17that on location in Dublin, you deliberately didn't stay
0:29:17 > 0:29:19in the same hotel as everyone else
0:29:19 > 0:29:23because you wanted to feel and taste the loneliness of living on your own.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25- No!- Like Olivier, when he said, "Have you tried acting?"
0:29:25 > 0:29:27I just thought it made much more sense to be in a hotel
0:29:27 > 0:29:30where you're on your own and you can get in the elevator...
0:29:30 > 0:29:33Elevator? Lift. You can see I'm well travelled
0:29:33 > 0:29:35and you go up to your room and that's it.
0:29:35 > 0:29:37You don't actually go into the hotel.
0:29:37 > 0:29:39see everybody at the bar, say
0:29:39 > 0:29:41"Oh, hello, yes. Of course, yeah, I'll have..."
0:29:41 > 0:29:43That way madness lies.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46So, it's to do with weakness of character,
0:29:46 > 0:29:48not trying to find one.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51You've done a wide variety of roles.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53I tell you, something you did, a very small part,
0:29:53 > 0:29:56in a film which I think was greatly underrated -
0:29:56 > 0:29:58- Oh! What A Lovely War. Dickie Attenborough.- Oh, yeah.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01I thought it was fascinating that when we first see you
0:30:01 > 0:30:03you're terribly glamorous on the stage,
0:30:03 > 0:30:06and you continue to be glamorous throughout the song
0:30:06 > 0:30:09and then suddenly there's this quite harsh close-up.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12Yeah, I'm very proud of that, because it was my idea.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15- Oh, was it?- Yeah. So, I was very, very pleased with that.
0:30:15 > 0:30:17But that is a very frightening thing,
0:30:17 > 0:30:20when you see them with an enormous amount of make-up
0:30:20 > 0:30:26and you're looking completely startling and ludicrous, really.
0:30:26 > 0:30:28Got a clip of that to show you, as well.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30- Oh.- Here you are singing.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34I don't think I can even listen to this.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36# If only other girls would do as I do
0:30:36 > 0:30:40# I believe that we could manage it alone
0:30:40 > 0:30:42# But I turn all suitors from me
0:30:42 > 0:30:45# But the sailor and the Tommy
0:30:45 > 0:30:49# I've an army and a navy of my own
0:30:49 > 0:30:53# On Sunday I'd walk out with a soldier
0:30:53 > 0:30:56# Monday I'm taken by a tar
0:30:56 > 0:31:00# Tuesday I'm out with a baby boy scout
0:31:00 > 0:31:03# On Wednesday a Hussar
0:31:03 > 0:31:07# On Thursday I gang out wi' a Scottie
0:31:07 > 0:31:10# On Friday the captain of the crew
0:31:10 > 0:31:12# But on Saturday I'm willing
0:31:12 > 0:31:14# If you'll only take the shilling
0:31:14 > 0:31:18# To make a man of any one of you #
0:31:20 > 0:31:22I enjoyed that. You obviously didn't.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24- You sat with your fingers in your ears.- No.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27No, I've never been able to sing. Never ever.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29You have a reputation, thoroughly deserved,
0:31:29 > 0:31:32of stealing films from other people.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35Michael Caine, when you got your second Oscar for California Suite,
0:31:35 > 0:31:39he said you didn't just steal the film, you committed grand larceny.
0:31:39 > 0:31:43And then when he heard that Michael Palin had cast you in The Missionary
0:31:43 > 0:31:45his only advice to Palin was to watch out,
0:31:45 > 0:31:48you'd "steal the film from under your feet".
0:31:48 > 0:31:51- Is this deliberate, or does it just happen that way?- Not at all.
0:31:51 > 0:31:53It was Burton who started all that up.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56Richard Burton saying that in The VIPs.
0:31:56 > 0:31:58And that really was the wildest thing
0:31:58 > 0:32:00because it was a scene that we shot
0:32:00 > 0:32:02and I was told Margaret Rutherford is over there,
0:32:02 > 0:32:05and so-and-so is over there, and Orson Wells is over there
0:32:05 > 0:32:07and, of course, nobody is there, at all.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10There was a kind of a bit of cardboard
0:32:10 > 0:32:12with Richard sitting in front of it.
0:32:12 > 0:32:14So one had to pretend all this was happening.
0:32:14 > 0:32:19So under those circumstances it is quite difficult to do it by design.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23I think it's just the parts are probably like that.
0:32:23 > 0:32:28People always have sympathy for that kind of person.
0:32:28 > 0:32:33The downtrodden aunt in the corsets and the boots that I'm always in.
0:32:33 > 0:32:37In 1976, you went off to Stratford, Ontario for three years
0:32:37 > 0:32:40and I think that was a bad time in your private life.
0:32:40 > 0:32:42Your marriage to Robert Stephens was breaking.
0:32:42 > 0:32:44Not good professionally.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47It was said, probably not by you, but by somebody else,
0:32:47 > 0:32:49and it may be the truth,
0:32:49 > 0:32:53that you were running away to escape the demons and the pressures.
0:32:53 > 0:32:57It wasn't a good time, obviously, when my marriage broke up.
0:32:57 > 0:32:59That wasn't good.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02I was also acting very, very badly.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05I really was... Because of all kinds of pressures.
0:33:05 > 0:33:07No reason for excuses, there aren't any.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10And I was there, I was there for a long time.
0:33:10 > 0:33:12But I was really, really glad
0:33:12 > 0:33:15and really stimulated by being there.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18It was great to be away from
0:33:18 > 0:33:20the pressures of...
0:33:21 > 0:33:24It just felt different doing all those plays
0:33:24 > 0:33:26in the middle of a field in Ontario.
0:33:26 > 0:33:31Somehow the pressures of the critics and things wasn't so strong.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34You didn't feel...
0:33:34 > 0:33:36I always feel...
0:33:36 > 0:33:40nearly every time I do anything, that it's like an exam.
0:33:40 > 0:33:41It always feels like that.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44And that you get marks at the end.
0:33:44 > 0:33:46That's how I think of reviews.
0:33:46 > 0:33:50Now, of course, the film that is coming up is The Secret Garden,
0:33:50 > 0:33:53which I must say I did enjoy immensely.
0:33:53 > 0:33:54Again, what made you do that?
0:33:54 > 0:33:57Was it simply that somebody offered you this script,
0:33:57 > 0:33:59- with a very good role? - Absolutely.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02When I read the book, ages and ages ago,
0:34:02 > 0:34:07the character that I was playing was not at all like me.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10It was very different working on that film
0:34:10 > 0:34:14because they treat children and animals quite well.
0:34:14 > 0:34:16Which is nice to know.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19So that was good. That was terrific.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23So you didn't feel like a rag the entire time.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26And Agnieszka - Heaven forfend that I say it's because she's a woman,
0:34:26 > 0:34:29but it certainly had something to do with it -
0:34:29 > 0:34:32would from time to time when we got to the end of a scene would say,
0:34:32 > 0:34:36"Vy don't you go and take off these corsets and things,
0:34:36 > 0:34:38"you will feel more comfortable."
0:34:38 > 0:34:40That was wonderful.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44Because, I can promise you I've spent weeks on end
0:34:44 > 0:34:47in the wretched things on Merchant Ivory films.
0:34:47 > 0:34:49Nobody would even...
0:34:49 > 0:34:54They actually left me in corsets up a mountain once for days, I think!
0:34:54 > 0:34:56and by then you're dead!
0:34:56 > 0:35:00You look splendidly upholstered in your corsets in The Secret Garden.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03Yes, I was quite upholstered in them.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06I think you ought to have the opportunity to see at least a clip.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09- I'd be interested.- This is the bit where you, as the housekeeper,
0:35:09 > 0:35:12comes to collect the little girl at the station.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17Is that Mary Lennox?
0:35:17 > 0:35:19Number 43.
0:35:19 > 0:35:20Yes, Mary Lennox.
0:35:20 > 0:35:21I've come to claim her.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24I'm Mrs Medlock.
0:35:24 > 0:35:26Housekeeper at Misselthwaite Manor.
0:35:26 > 0:35:31The Lord Archibald Craven, her uncle and guardian.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34What a queer, unresponsive little thing.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37And, my word, a plain piece of goods.
0:35:37 > 0:35:39Her mother was a beauty.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42She certainly didn't hand much of it down, did she?
0:35:42 > 0:35:45Oh, she might improve as she gets older. Children change.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48She'll have to change quite a bit.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52If you ask me, there's not much to improve her at Misselthwaite Manor.
0:35:52 > 0:35:54Come along.
0:35:57 > 0:35:59You're a mistress of accents!
0:35:59 > 0:36:03Dear little Kate - wonderful face, isn't it? Kate Maberly.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06When you look back now over your career,
0:36:06 > 0:36:08you must be fairly chuffed at the way things have turned out.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12Nothing has changed. It's still as precarious as it ever was.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14There's another wonderful thing
0:36:14 > 0:36:17that I wanted to do with Lindsay Anderson,
0:36:17 > 0:36:19and we tried to set it up.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22It's a Chekov, and, of course, that's difficult,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25and the producer had sent it to several companies -
0:36:25 > 0:36:28God knows, it might be this one, for all I know! -
0:36:28 > 0:36:31and he got a letter back which said "Dear Mr Chekov, thank you for..."
0:36:31 > 0:36:34Now, that's terrifying, isn't it?
0:36:34 > 0:36:39I have seen a Xerox of the letter!
0:36:39 > 0:36:42Now, you must take satisfaction out of some of the things you have done.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45Oh, yes! Oh, yes, I'm not saying I don't,
0:36:45 > 0:36:47but I'm just saying it doesn't guarantee
0:36:47 > 0:36:50you will ever do anything else, that's all.
0:36:50 > 0:36:52So, if I say "What does the future hold?"
0:36:52 > 0:36:55- You'll say you haven't the faintest idea?- I haven't the faintest idea.
0:36:55 > 0:36:57I really haven't the faintest idea.
0:36:57 > 0:36:59But it better be something soon,
0:36:59 > 0:37:03because I shall drive everybody mad if I don't work. I know that.
0:37:03 > 0:37:04Of course more work did come,
0:37:04 > 0:37:07along with more praise and awards.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10Today Dame Maggie's profile is higher than ever.
0:37:10 > 0:37:14Scene-stealing performances in Downton Abbey,
0:37:14 > 0:37:15and the Harry Potter movies,
0:37:15 > 0:37:20meaning this national treasure is recognised right across the world.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23When most would be well into retirement,
0:37:23 > 0:37:27she carries on, saying of acting, "I love it!
0:37:27 > 0:37:31"I'm privileged to do it and I don't know where I would be without it."