Acting icon Maggie Smith has two rather famous children – but who are they?
Maggie Smith was an acting legend – and it turns out her two sons have followed in their late mum’s footsteps into the acting world.
89-year-old Maggie built an incredible career, spanning more than 60 years. Her acting credits included roles in the Harry Potter franchise as Professor Minerva McGonagall, the Downton Abbey series as Violet Crawley and appearances in films like Hook, Sister Act, The Secret Garden and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
Sadly, in 2024, Maggie passed away in a London hospital, much to the shock of “devastated” fans and loved ones. The beloved star left behind her two sons and five grandchildren.
And it turns out Maggie’s sons both followed in her footsteps and have carved a successful acting career, just like their mum.
Maggie was married twice during her lifetime, and shares sons Christopher and Toby with her first husband Robert Stephens – with whom she was married from 1967 until 1975 and he passed away in 1995 at the age of 64.
Over the years, Christopher Larkin has appeared in the likes of Doctor Who, Holby City and Casualty. He also ventured into the world of soaps, appearing on and off from 2011 to 2021 in BBC soap Doctors. He had a main role too in the fantasy TV series Outlander, playing Richard Brown from 2020 to 2023.
In 2013, Christopher opened up about why he dropped “Stephens” from his stage name, revealing it was to avoid the connection to his famous father.
He told The Times: “There are lots of people whose parents are in the business who might be able to say, ‘Yes, I got my big break because of who my parents are.’ Great. The challenge is to sustain it. And if you’re not good, you’ll be found out. The job is fairly brutal like that.”
Meanwhile, Maggie’s youngest son Toby also has a successful acting career. In 2002, he played Bond villain Gustav Graves in Die Another Day, for which he was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.
And from 2014 to 2017, Toby starred as Captain Flint in the Starz television series Black Sails. He also had a lead role in the Netflix science fiction series Lost in Space from 2018 to 2021.
And last year, he played Melford Stevenson in the critically acclaimed ITV historical drama, A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story.
Speaking previously, Toby revealed neither of his parents pushed him into acting. He told The Guardian in 2007: “They tried quite hard to make sure it was what I wanted to do. It wasn’t, ‘Oh great, he’s going into the biz as well.’ It was more, ‘If this really is what you want to do, why? How many plays have you actually seen?’”
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