"Many Americans know Dame Maggie Smith as the elegant and formidable Dowager
Countess of Grantham. But at 81, Smith is now starring in a role that's a long way from Downton Abbey. In The Lady in the Van, Smith is Mary Shepherd — a homeless woman who lived in a derelict van parked in playwright Alan Bennett's driveway for 15 years."
Countess of Grantham. But at 81, Smith is now starring in a role that's a long way from Downton Abbey. In The Lady in the Van, Smith is Mary Shepherd — a homeless woman who lived in a derelict van parked in playwright Alan Bennett's driveway for 15 years.""'She was quite happy on the street,' Smith tells NPR's Renee Montagne. 'But I think Alan was so distressed watching her outside his window all the time that he thought he just had to help.'"
"He never expected her to stay — but she did. And though Shepherd and Bennett didn't become friends by any stretch, the playwright was 'obviously fascinated by her,' says Smith."
"Smith talks with Montagne about the characters she's inhabited in her decades of acting, from 1960s Broadway to Downton Abbey."