Biographie

In 2008, it was reported that she was fighting breast cancer. She has had a tumor removed and undergone chemotherapy.

The fight scene between her and Alan Rickman in Harry Potter et les Reliques de la Mort : partie 2 (2011) was almost scrapped during the script process of the film. Her character was to be written out of the scene and replaced by another character. However, author J.K. Rowling insisted that the fight should involve the same characters as those in the novel, as she saw it as a key moment for Smith's character. The scene was filmed when Smith was 76 years old.

Is one of 17 actresses to have won the Triple Crown of Acting (an Oscar, Emmy, and Tony); the others in chronological order are: Helen Hayes, Ingrid Bergman, Shirley Booth, Liza Minnelli, Rita Moreno, Maureen Stapleton, Jessica Tandy, Audrey Hepburn, Anne Bancroft, Vanessa Redgrave, Ellen Burstyn, Helen Mirren, Frances McDormand, Jessica Lange, Viola Davis and Glenda Jackson.

While filming Mort sur le Nil (1978), aboard ship, no one was allowed his or her own dressing room, so she shared a dressing room with Bette Davis and Angela Lansbury.

One of the first people to have a star on the Avenue of Stars - a British version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Seven other Harry Potter actors also have one.

One went to school, one wanted to act, one started to act, and one's still acting.

"Jude is the most incredibly level person. Generous, understanding. All the things I'd have to work very hard at, Jude is like that all the time. I would love to be like that. And working with Jude you have to try to remember that you ought to be like that" [on her friend Judi Dench].

I love it, I'm privileged to do it and I don't know where I'd be without it. [on acting]

The performances you have in your head are always much better than the performances on stage.

"I still miss him so much it's ridiculous. People say it gets better but it doesn't. It just gets different, that's all. Even in my dream I kept saying to him, 'You are dead. You can't be here'" [on her second husband, Beverley Cross].