From privileged British countess to unkempt London transient -- quite a role reversal for Dame Maggie Smith, wouldn't you think? But it's not. For the 81-year-old's portrayal of Violet, dowager countess of Grantham on PBS' runaway hit Downton Abbey, is much like her character of Mary Shepherd, a vagrant living in a trashy van parked in the North London driveway of well-regarded British playwright Alan Bennett: Both characters are imperious, difficult, unrelenting, bossy, and Women Who Must Be Obeyed.
Like the dowager, Miss Shepherd -- the centerpiece of The Lady in the Van -- is master of her universe.
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