setsuled

I wasn't sure if I was going to talk about Maggie Smith, who passed away yesterday at the age of 89. I only ever saw a few scenes from Downton Abbey. Otherwise, I know her as a solid supporting performer in a number of films of varying quality. She seemed typically to play fussy matrons, as she did in Room with a View and the Harry Potter movies. Considering how popular the Harry Potter movies are with my students, I wish I liked them more. I don't hate them.

She had a delicacy of manner that infused her performances with nuance on the rare occasion when she wasn't obliged to play a caricature. I do think she elevated those caricatures.

Here's something out of her usual way: her performance as Desdemona in Lawrence Olivier's Othello:

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I appreciate the anxiety and affection mingling in her performance. She was certainly one of the best of her generation.