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Maggie Smith is The Lady in the Van

— by Alyson Walsh

Maggie Smith

Photo: CBS News

I can’t think of anyone who could play The Lady in the Van better than Maggie Smith. She’s brilliant and funny as Miss Mary Sheperd the homeless woman who moved her camper van into writer Alan Bennett’s drive for three months, in the 1970s, and ended up staying 15 years. Alex Jennings makes a great Alan Bennett but Dame Maggie is in her prime, capturing perfectly the ‘vagabond nobility’ of The Lady in the Van. 

The-Lady-In-The-Van-Review

Photo: Evening Standard

There’s one more opportunity to see her stealing the show as the Dowager Duchess this Christmas, though I doubt Smith will be tuning in herself, she told Graham Norton recently that she’s never watched Downton.

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I can’t think of anyone who could play The Lady in the Van better than Maggie Smith. She’s brilliant and funny as Miss Mary Sheperd the homeless woman who moved her camper van into writer …