Maggie Smith Receives Critics' Circle Award

Maggie Smith. Photo: Elliot Franks

Maggie Smith was presented with the Critics' Circle Award for Services To The Arts at a special event yesterday. The award, an engraved crystal rose bowl was made at the National Liveral Club in London.

In her acceptance speech, Dame Maggie commented, "I feel very, very honoured. I know people say and I've certainly said I don't read the critics, which a lot of actors say very airily, but believe me, you get to know what's there. But I did learn a lesson once— I was sitting in a hotel with Frank Finlay who was a wonderful actor, we were filming Othello, but there was a newspaper there and I read it; there was a review in there and it was absolutely lethal and truly frightening. It was for The Master Builder at the National, and I remember bursting into tears. Frank gave me a great big hug and said, 'what you must think about is how many actresses you've made very happy. I don't know if the critic who wrote that is here, but it was a very good lesson."

The award, which has been made annually since 1988 includes Sir Peter Hall, Sir John Mills, Dame Judi Dench, Alan Bennett, and Stephen Sondheim amongst its past recipients.