The Crawley matriarch was the beating heart of Downton Abbey. The program wouldn't be the same without Maggie Smith as the Dowager to provide knowledge (and gossip). She inspired all of her family members including Lady Mary, who in turn took her place when Maggie retired from acting. Maggie Smith was born on January 11th, 1933 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her mother was a nurse and her father was an accountant who later became an insurance agent. When she was 10 years old, her family moved to Northern Ireland where her father worked for an insurance company. Here she began her acting career at the age of 12 in The White Rose Theatre Company. In 1955, she played Cecily Cardew in a production of J.B. Priestley's Angel Street. This led to other roles on stage and in films such as A Taste of Honey (1961), Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), and The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005). In 1960, Maggie Smith married Peter Bowles, an actor. They have two children together named Timothy and Natasha. In 2007, they divorced after 30 years of marriage. Since then, she has been dating actor Allan Corduner. Maggie Smith currently lives in London with her dog Baxter.