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Maggie Smith

By: Michael Coveney
Narrated by: Sian Thomas
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Publisher's Summary

No one does glamour, severity, girlish charm or tight-lipped witticism better than Dame Maggie Smith, one of Britain's best-loved actors. This new biography shines the stage lights 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 (by his own admission), answering back to Laurence Olivier, or impressing Ingmar Bergman, her career can be seen as a 'Who's Who' of British theatre in the 20th century.

This book also covers the little-known period in Canada, a prolific five-season run of leading roles that took place during the height of her success in Hollywood, soon after she won her first Oscar for her signature film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Recently Dame Maggie has been prominent on our screens as ever, with high-profile roles as Violet Crawley, the formidable Dowager Countess of Grantham, in the phenomenally successful television series Downton Abbey, and as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter film franchise: what she herself describes as 'Miss Jean Brodie in a wizard's hat'. Yet paradoxically she remains an enigmatic figure, rarely appearing in public and carefully guarding her considerable talent.

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 therefore as close as it gets to seeing the real Maggie Smith.

Read by Sian Thomas.

©2015 Michael Coveney (P)2015 Orion Publishing Group

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A flawed biography

What is there not to like about Maggie Smith? A consummate actress with a remarkable range and yet the biography by Michael Coveney provides little insights about Maggie Smith as a person. This may be because she is reported to be a private person - one of the few revealing facts made by the author. In the end I felt I knew little more about Maggie Smith than I did at the start. Perhaps she would be pleased by this but the thinness of the biography for the listener is disappointing. The most irritating feature of the book is the author's fondness for ascribing witty, pithy or waspish one-liners spoken by Maggie Smith in film or on stage as though she was their author whereas they come from the pen of the scriptwriter or playwright. In doing so, Coveney makes the cardinal mistake of conflating fiction with real life. It's all a little too hagiographic for comfort. While the biography may be weak, Sian Thomas as ever is excellent as the narrator and helps makes the book a little less mundane.

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A hard slog

I adore Maggie Smith. She is smart, phenomenal, and an extraordinary artist. This biography is essentially a list of every piece of work she has ever done. It is not personal though, she clearly was not involved in its conception. One could save themselves 17 hours by simply googling the information instead.
Loads of big impressive words read well.

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A list of name dropping

I’ve sat through 5 chapters of this book as I admire Maggie Smith so much. However it’s nothing more than a list of name dropping. Unless you are a real acting buff and know all the actors/ directors it’s really boring. Such a shame . I would love to know more about her but I just can’t stand the style.

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Utter disappointment

This book does the magnificent Dame Maggie Smith absolutely no favours and would be more successful at losing her the support and adoration of her followers and fans than shedding any light or insight to the marvellous journey that has been her career. Complete waste of money in my opinion.

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