Maggie Smith is one of those celebrities that can seem adorable and terrifying all at once.
It’s a public image cultivated in large part by her choice of film and TV roles that see her cast as stern, strict, snobby and brutally sarcastic.
She rarely does any interviews to counter that impression, though she appeared on Graham Norton’s TV show earlier this year and showed herself to be a right laugh.
At the Emmy awards on Sunday night, Smith found herself at the centre of a running joke by the show’s host Jimmy Kimmel.
Smith has never attended the Emmy awards – despite being nominated nine times and winning three times. In his opening monologue, Kimmel quipped:
“We have a new rule — you must be present to win. If we call your name and you’re not here to accept it, it goes to the next person. It’s called the ‘Maggie Smith’ rule. If you want an Emmy you better hop on a plane right now and get your Dowager Count-ass over here.”
A little while later, Smith was named Best Supporting Actress In A Drama for her performance in the final season of Downton Abbey, and, true to form, she was a no-show.
Keeping the joke going, Kimmel stormed the stage after the announcement, took the Emmy, and said: “No, no, no, no, no. We’re not mailing this to her. Maggie, if you want this, it’ll be in the lost and found.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1T8SHLTT94
Well, Maggie has since responded to her Emmy win – and to Kimmel’s playful jabs about her non-attendance.
Dame #MaggieSmith graciously accepts her #Emmy award — @jimmykimmel, please advise on the location of the lost and found! #DowntonPBS pic.twitter.com/veQ6shRmxA
— MASTERPIECE | PBS (@masterpiecepbs) September 19, 2016
“I was very astonished and pleased to win the award,” she said in a statement that was released on Twitter by PBS, which airs Downton in the US. “I feel the Emmys have been overly generous to me. If Mr Kimmel could please direct me to the lost and found office I will try and be on the next flight. Love, old Maggie.”
