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Before 'Downton Abbey' returns, catch Dame Maggie Smith in the comedy "Quartet'
Published: 10/30/2012 1:10 PM
Last Modified: 10/30/2012 1:13 PM


Dame Maggie Smith, left, and Tom Courtenay, right, take direction from Dustin Hoffman for "Quartet." COURTESY

If you can't wait until Jan. 6 to see the inimitable Maggie Smith in action in PBS' "Downton Abbey," there's relief on the way.

The two-time Oscar winner is one of the stars in the senior citizen comedy "Quartet," set for release Dec. 28, according to deadline.com.

The film marks the feature film directing debut of two-time Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman.

The setting: Five of the finest singers in the English operatic world all live in Beecham House for retired musicians. It's a world where life trots along to a certain rhythm until there's a new arrival.

Naturally, the new diva, played by Smith, stirs up trouble when she won't participate in a concert to celebrate Verdi's birthday, reports the website. The cast includes Michael Gambon, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins and Sheridan Smith,

In the Toronto debut of the film, Hoffman told the audience he first became interested in the world of opera stars back when he was working as a waiter and rooming with Robert Duvall whose brother was an opera singer.

He said directing the cast of hugely talented actors wasn't a bit hard.

"It wasn't difficult to direct them because everything I despised in directors for 45 years I knew they despised," he said, according to the website.

"I will never, never be so grateful as I am now to have worked with these great, great artists. It is singularly the greatest experience I have ever had."

Here's the official trailer.





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Rita Sherrow grew up with TV. Yes, it was the ever-present “sister” from another techno mother. At first look, it was instant "Like." From then on, the TV had to be on in every room while she studied, elementary school through college. An Air Force brat, she attended school in three states (Oklahoma, Montana and Georgia) and two foreign countries (Germany and Bermuda) and graduated from Broken Arrow High School and the University of Tulsa with a degree in journalism/advertising. She first interned in the advertising world but, when a J-School professor (who also covered politics for the Tulsa World) offered her an internship at the newspaper, she took him up on it. The rest is history. She has served as bridal editor, senior features writer for the women’s section, food editor and is television editor of the Tulsa World. In addition to writing about TV shows and interviewing the stars for “Scene” stories, she also writes a TV column for Weekend and produces the Sunday TV World listings magazine.

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