Reviews
Maggie Smith – BBC Oscar Winners Collection
BBC Warner / 3 Disc set
Maggie Smith came to stardom quite late in her career but has become one of the best loved actresses of our era and this rather lovely and covetable collection contains a quartet of four vintage Maggie Smith performances from the BBC archives starting with two performances from 1972 with a version of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice and a co-starring role with the always fun to watch Tom Baker in The Millionairess. From 1988 comes an incredibly moving edition of Alan Bennett’s superb Talking Heads monologue series and finally a large scale production from 1993 of Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer.
Some very nice and watchable extras come in the shape of a highly rare interview from 1967 made as part of a BBC series on acting and called Acting in the 60’s; There is also an interview with old Parky from 1973, a complete radio play version of The Country Wife and finally a special for this box set celebrating her career with contributions from the likes of Simon Callow and Alan Bennett. The set also includes a booklet of viewing notes.