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is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies. Maggie Smith, the renowned British actress best known to American audiences for her roles in the Harry Potter films and the masterpiece series Downton Abbey, died last Friday in London. She was 89. In a career that spanned nearly seven decades, she won two Academy Awards for The Prime of Miss Jean Brody and California Suite. Among her many other films are A Room with a View, Gosford Park, The Secret Garden, and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. She was recognized for her stage and television performances with a host of Tony and Emmy nominations and awards. We very nearly didn't have Maggie Smith in our archive. She was available in 2016 to promote a film, but we were told she wouldn't sit for a long interview about her career. She couldn't imagine why anyone would want talk to her for an hour. She finally agreed with two days notice, and I recorded the interview we'll hear now. We'll begin with a scene from Downton Abbey. She played an elderly countess in an aristocratic British family and won three Emmys with her sharp tongued wit. Here, she's speaking with Lady Grantham, played by Elizabeth McGovern. There's brief mention in the scene of an incident at the estate in which a Turkish diplomat died in a bedroom. The two women are talking about finding a suitable husband for Mary, Lady Grantham's eldest daughter. Maggie Smith's character speaks first.

Why? Well, she didn't know him. One can't go to pieces at the death of every foreigner. We'd all be in a state of collapse whenever we opened a newspaper.