Liz Smith

Short Biography

Liz Smith, MBE (born 11 December 1921) is an British actress, best-known for her roles in the sitcoms The Vicar of Dibley and The Royle Family. She also appeared in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In the 1970s and 1980s, Liz Smith appeared in many popular television programmes in the UK, including The Duchess of Duke Street, Within These Walls, In Loving Memory, The Gentle Touch, Agatha Christie`s Partners in Crime, One by One as Gran Turner, and The Lenny Henry Show. In 1984, Liz Smith received a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Maggie Smith`s mother in the film A Private Function. In 2008, she starred in the first series of the period drama Lark Rise to Candleford. That same year she was a castaway on BBC Radio 4`s Desert Island Discs and was in the film City of Ember, which was released in October 2008. In July 2009 she featured in a one-hour BBC Four documentary called Liz Smith`s Summer Cruise, where she joined a group of like-minded individuals on a cruise from Croatia to Venice. That same month, having suffered a stroke a few months previously, she announced her retirement from acting at the age of 87. In 2009 Smith received the Member of the Order of the British Empire.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Smith_(actress)