Dame Maggie Smith lamented how Downton Abbey changed her life off screen

She was a national treasure and won multiple awards. But what was somewhat surprising was that Dame Maggie Smith never loved the limelight.

“I’m never shy on stage, always shy away from it,” she once described herself to critic Nancy Banks Smith.

She never watched herself in Downton Abbey. It is known that she didn’t even show up to accept her first Oscar.

And in a rare interview for the British Film Institute in 2017, She complained that she could no longer walk down the street without being stopped by adoring fans.

Despite being an acclaimed stage actress since the 1960s and having a varied and successful career on the big screen, she insisted she had led a “completely normal life” until her role in Downton Abbey.

The ITV drama, loved by viewers around the world, had elevated her to a new level of superstardom late in her life – and she revealed she regretted what she had lost as a result.

In the drama, which aired between 2010 and 2015, Dame Maggie played Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, the grand matriarch who excelled at amazing one-liners.

“It’s ridiculous,” she said of the way public recognition changed during that time.

She remembered life before the inner city and said: “I went to the theater, galleries and things like that alone.” And now I can’t. And that’s terrible.

She added that Fulham Road in south-west London was “dodgy” enough without her being seen walking along it.

That’s not to say she never liked being approached by fans.

Her role as the formidable Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter films won her legions of younger fans – something she clearly enjoyed.

“A lot of very small people always greeted me and that was nice,” she said during an interview on The Graham Norton Show in 2015.

“It was completely different people,” she said, noting that for her it was as if she had never existed before.

“She loved it when kids recognized her from Harry Potter,” added Nick Hynter, the stage and film director who directed Dame Maggie in “The Lady in the Van.” “She liked that.”

For those who have worked with her, given her enormous reputation, it is understandable that they were a bit apprehensive at first.

Lesley Nichol, who starred as Downton Abbey’s chef, said she was “terrible” when she first heard she would be working with Dame Maggie.

“I’ve never worked with anyone of this caliber before,” she told BBC Radio Ulster. “And I thought, I don’t know what to tell her, it’s going to be really difficult, God, she’s probably going to be really great.”

But Nichol said she quickly realized none of it was true.

“She didn’t want anyone to be afraid of her or in awe of her, she just wanted to be part of the gang.”

Nichol said it was always “lovely” spending time with Dame Maggie and said they would spend time playing the word game Bananagrams between takes.

“She was scary at it and really competitive and really good at it,” she said.

“But that’s just how she was, she was in the middle of the audience and just very happy to be part of it all.”

Dame Maggie was known for her sharp tongue on and off screen.

But that didn’t spoil their sense of fun, Hynter told BBC News.

“Everyone knows how funny she was, she had an exceptionally quick, super-intelligent, biting wit,” he said.

“But she was fun to be around, even if you were on the receiving end of her snarky joke, you couldn’t help but laugh.”

“She was so clever, she was also capable of extraordinary sweetness and was a wonderful companion at concerts, ballet and theater.”

Harry Potter stars also remembered how much fun Dame Maggie had on set.

On Saturday, Rupert Grint, who played Ron Weasley in the film series, said posted a picture of him dancing awkwardly with Dame Maggie.

“She was so special, always hilarious and always kind,” he wrote.

“I feel incredibly lucky to have shared a set with her, and especially lucky to have shared a dance.”

Of course it wasn’t all fun and games.

Asked in her BFI interview to reflect on the most excruciating thing she’s ever done, Dame Maggie recalled a time during the filming of Harry Potter when she was stuck in a caravan in the snow for a week, “with that stupid hat on the head”. .

“And when you sit in that trailer day after day and don’t get used (while you wait for your next scene), you don’t feel very good. “It was a terrible thing,” she said.

“But there were other people in the trailer who were moaning like Miriam Margolyes. You’re not alone if you moan.”

Margolyes, who also appeared on screen with Dame Maggie in Ladies in Lavender, said the actress always had a “touch of mischief”.

“I saw what a kind yet terrifying person she could be,” she said.

“I wouldn’t say I was a friend of hers, I was an acolyte and she allowed me to be one.”

Margolyes, who played Professor Sprout in the wizarding series, recalled a time when she was absent from filming because she had finished her role in the series.

“(Lady Maggie) said ‘Nonsense! When I’m in a scene I want you there, so please come back’. And she talked to the producer and brought me back, so I got some more money.”

She admitted that she was sometimes afraid of her. “But you can forgive someone for being the best of the best, right, if they have a bit of a temper.”

From the small stage to the big screen, Dame Maggie’s moving performances have always been a showstopper.

But she was also extremely committed. Even later in life, she was known for never showing up on set without having her lines perfectly memorized.

“I never saw her on set with a little script, she knew it before she came here,” Lady Carnarvon, who lives in Highclere Castle, where Downton Abbey was filmed, told BBC Breakfast.

“She worked so hard to get up at night … and wear corsets for hours,” she said, adding that she continued to work until the end of her life.

“I think deep down there was a desire to do everything right,” Margoyles said. “But she always did.”

Throughout, she remained famously private.

She rarely gave interviews. And Margolyes notes that Dame Maggie “didn’t like being on chat shows,” even though she was good at them.

When she won her first Oscar in 1970 for her performance in “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” she skipped the awards ceremony.

At that time she was acting in a play in London. Many other actors would have had the understudy take over for the evening, but not Dame Maggie.

She actually appeared to accept her Special Award Bafta in 1993, but her speech only lasted 30 seconds.

“If it is possible to act in films without taking off your clothes or killing people with machine guns. I actually seem to have succeeded,” she said.

It all paints a picture of an actress who found the whole idea of ​​being a star a little embarrassing, even though she did it a whole Wikipedia page dedicated to the number of awards she has won.

“She was a very private person,” Lady Carnarvon added.

“I always wanted to respect that and not cross any boundaries. And I think she was like that, just like her character on TV.”

But despite Dame Maggie’s determination to stay under the radar whenever possible, she left a lasting impression on everyone she met.

Perhaps her old friend, the late actor Kenneth Williams, said it best in his diary entry about Dame Maggie in December 1962.

“The cold and dreary weather and the mediocre crowd made (Dame Maggie’s) exit monotonous and unexciting. I didn’t say goodbye or anything because I was crying.

“But this girl has a magic and a comedic flair that makes you really grateful, and she’s capable of a generosity that’s beautiful.”

“She is one of those rare people who suddenly makes things and places wonderful just by her presence. She’s adorable.”