Remembering Dame Maggie Smith with her film about Verdi and the joy of singing with friends

27 September 2024, 16:17

As we farewell the grande dame of our screens, we remember when the beloved actor played an opera singer and brought all her customary wit and charm with it.

Today the world says goodbye to a legend of the screen, Dame Maggie Smith, who has died aged 89.

Her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin announced the news on Friday. “It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith,” they said. “She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning.”

In her long and extraordinary career, Dame Maggie won two Oscars, for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and as Best Supporting Actress in California Suite (1978). Younger audiences know her best for Harry Potter and Downton Abbey.

But today we’re remembering her in a charming film which told of later life, Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi, and the joy of singing with friends.

In 2012, she starred as soprano Jean Horton in Quartet. The film’s story was centred around a group of retired British musicians who live in a retirement home for former professional musicians, based on the real-life Casa di Riposo per Musicisti founded by Verdi. While they are elderly and suffering from various ailments, they continue to pursue music teaching and introducing young people to musical performance.

Quartet Official Trailer #1 (2012) - Dustin Hoffman Movie HD

Together, Horton and her fellow residents perform a concert every year to celebrate Verdi’s birthday. The famous quartet from the composer’s opera Rigoletto gives the film its name.

The film was Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut, and it starred Billy Connolly and Smith’s Harry Potter costar, the late Michael Gambon.

The comedy-drama contains all the charm, laughter and romance you might expect. It showcased the great actor in her 70s, playing the sort of role she had made her own in Downton Abbey and beyond.

“Maggie Smith gives one of her finest grande dame performances,” declared The Guardian after the film’s release. Watch her magic in the trailer above.

Music has played an important part in Dame Maggie‘s career. One of her most popular roles from the 1980s was as Charlotte Bartlett in the Merchant Ivory adaptation of E. M. Forster’s A Room with a View. There, Puccini’s music, sung by Kiri Te Kanawa, formed a radiant and iconic soundtrack.

Composer Nigel Hess scored her 2004 film Ladies in Lavender, which featured an equally beloved national treasure in Judi Dench. Violinist Joshua Bell took solo honours for that score.

A true legend of stage and screen, who leaves an indelible mark on the world of film, TV and theatre. Rest in peace, Dame Maggie.