A farewell to Maggie Smith, Grande Dame of disdain

livemint.com:

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Dame Maggie Smith was an actor so skilled that even in the context of an ensemble, she commanded not just attention but entire scenes. In California Suite (1978), her brilliance earned her an Academy Award, playing Diana Barrie, an insecure yet cuttingly witty actress grappling with both personal and professional inadequacies.

Her performance was an unflinching study of both fragility and flair, a balancing act that showcased her mastery of timing and subtext. The lines she spoke had two lives: the words themselves, and the volcanic undercurrent she lent them. Michael Caine, her co-star, famously quipped that she didn’t just steal the film, she committed "grand larceny." If theft were a crime in cinema, Dame Maggie Smith was a recidivist of the highest order.

From California Suite onwards, her ability to dominate a scene became legend. And yet, Smith’s genius wasn’t in bombast or overwhelming presence—it was in the finer details. Her imperious voice, one that could reduce a co-star to rubble with the smallest inflection, was as distinctive as it was devastating.

And that voice? Well, it came from somewhere quite unlikely. It is said that Maggie Smith ‘stole’ her speaking style from Kenneth Williams, the comic genius of the Carry On films. Williams, with his exaggerated cadence and flamboyant disdain, was both homage and parody.

Smith, with a sharp ear and sharper wit, took that cadence, refined it, and made it her own weapon. In Smith’s hands, this unique rhythm of speech was less farcical, more scalpel-like, a razor blade veiled in silk. It was a skill honed through decades, a tool that would be wielded with legendary results.