From West End comedy to Alan Bennett, Harry Potter to Downton Abbey, Academy Award-winning actor Dame Maggie Smith cemented herself as one of Britain’s best-loved figures over a career spanning seven decades.

But despite her public stature, Smith was an enigmatic figure for much of her life, rarely appearing in public and carefully guarding her considerable talent. Drawing on personal archives, interviews and encounters with the actress, as well as conversations with immediate family and dear friends, Michael Coveney’s biography is a captivating portrait of the real Maggie Smith: the closest biography ever written of one of acting’s greats.