Why Maggie Smith is a Badass!

So, a group of friends and I are having a Harry Potter Trivia Pursuit Pot Luck, which means I spend my free time looking at all the memes, because they consider it an unfair advantage for me to reread the series again before the pot luck. Which of course also means the next day I will be delving into the series yet again. This also means my fav character McGonagall has been thoroughly researched which led me down a Maggie Smith rabbit hole. So here goes all the reasons why Maggie Smith is a wonderful badass.

She portrayed a murderer in Keeping Mum. I would have never believed that this was possible, except I watched the movie and it only adds to how awesome she is, being able to go from an uptight old lady in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, to a murderer, to McGonagall in HPGoF. Just look at how happy she is holding a butcher’s knife….

A young Maggie Smith and Allison Janney could be sisters. Their wit and their looks are uncanny. If they were ever in a movie together the fan girl in me would pass out from excitement and I would go to the premier, wherever it was.

        

Let us not forget that she was in both Quartet (1981) and Quartet (2012), not to be mistaken as a remake of itself, but two completely different movies. The 1981 version is in essence a love triangle story, which if anyone else was the main character, I would never watch and thus is placed at the low end of her work, simply because it is a mushy love story that takes place in Paris. While the 2012 version is comedy (much more my style) where Maggie Smith portrays an Opera diva who is pass her prime and very much resents anyone who asks her to sing for them, until a group of old friends help her realize that prime isn’t everything and if she sings with them they could save their home. Awe isn’t that cute…

Who can forget these amazing words she spoke. “It's true I don't tolerate fools, but then they don't tolerate me, so I am spiky. Maybe that's why I'm quite good at playing spiky elderly ladies.”

Speaking of spiky elderly ladies, lets talk about her role in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The film starts with her character Muriel being a racist old white lady who needs a hip replacement having to wait 6-15 months or go to India a get one in a few weeks. Her and several other retirees find this hotel in India that advertises “a life of leisure in lush surroundings.” While there they all go on separate adventures, Muriel’s ends in a change of heart leading her to accept others and even embrace the Indian culture. She falls in love with life there and helps the hotel become successful with her business knowledge. AKA, a cranky old lady finds a new life and becomes happy.

 

Quick shout out to lesser known British plays. Maggie Smith played a role in The Importance of Being Ernest in 1993. Now this may not seem like a big accomplishment, but it was one of my favorite plays I had to read in high school, long before I knew Maggie Smith was in anything other than Harry Potter (which we will get to later). Not that I remember most of the plot, but I’m pretty sure it is about cucumber sandwiches.

While we are talking about plays, lets point out that at 73 years old she starred in The Lady from Dubuque at the London Royal Theater. Just look at that sass.

Who could forget her role as a salty nun in Sister Act! She parallels grump and joy so well. ‘A lounge singer couldn’t possibly hide in a convent’ to ‘look at all the amazing things Deloris has done here.’

You know who else admires Maggie Smith? Daniel Radcliff. Who auditioned for Harry Potter because Maggie Smith thought he would be a great Draco Malfoy after playing a young David Copperfield. 

And who holds Maggie Smith’s umbrella when it rains on set? Daniel Radcliff because he didn’t want to go home. Who else gets a PA like that? Nobody, just Maggie Smith!

Now I could have a separate list for all the times Maggie Smith was amazing with just her role as Minerva McGonagall, but then I wouldn’t be able to share any memes that cross over with her role as the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley, like this one.

And lets not forget the best part of the entire Harry Potter Series. #That moment even a Weasley thinks your crazy.

How cute McGonagall would look if she were an animagus before Hogwarts! (Yes it was an excuse to post a photo of a kitten)

While were talking about cats and Harry Potter, might as well share this.

Of course no one other than Maggie Smith could play a character as salty and respected as McGonagall is, so all arguments otherwise are invalid.

I mean who else could look this badass at 77 years? Look at that fierce face!

Now that we’ve attempted to cover that role, we cant forget about other great moments she had as the Dowager Countess.

 

I mean who else could say this and still get offers for new roles?

What wise words will Maggie Smith share next, because I could live by her quotes.

Maggie Smith you surely are never wrong.