Maggie Smith Found Love at the Theatre (Twice!): Looking Back at the Late Icon's 2 Marriages

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo:Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty ; Fiona Hanson - PA Images/PA Images/Getty

Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty ; Fiona Hanson - PA Images/PA Images/Getty

Maggie Smithhad the theater to thank for her past marriages.

Here’s a look back at Maggie Smith’s former relationships with ex-husband Robert Stephens and husband Beverly Cross.

Robert Stephens

Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty

When Smith met her first husband, Robert Stephens, he was married to his second wife Tarn Bassett. However, following his divorce from Bassett, Stephens and Smith wed in 1967.

During their marriage, Smith and Stephens starred in two films together: 1969’sThe Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie —a role for which she won her first Academy Award — and 1972’sTravels With My Aunt. In 1970, however, the two endured a near-tragic event when Stephens reportedly attempted suicide while performing in the playThe Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.

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In 2004, Smith toldThe Guardianthat this incident was the beginning of the end of their relationship. She said, “And after that it was just hopeless. We had two little boys. He didn’t understand. I sure as hell didn’t understand. It got worse and then it went on getting worse and worse. In the end it was destroying everybody. And he was having so many affairs.”

In a later interview with Caroline Phillips for theEvening Standard, Stephens admitted to being unfaithful in each of his past marriages. “I think telling about an adultery is the worst thing you can ever do to a woman,” he told the outlet in 1991. “I knew it would destroy our marriage.”

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And although Smith went on to marry Beverly Cross two years later, Smith also toldThe Guardianthat she continued to care about Stephens. She said, “I have two wonderful sons and he is the reason for that.”

Stephens eventually wed Irish actress Patricia Quinn, whom he was married to until his death in 1995.

Beverley Cross

Smith’s relationship with her second husband Beverly Cross dates back to 1952, when Cross was an undergraduate student at Oxford University, perThe New York Times. Despite marrying classmate Elizabeth Clunies-Ross, Cross remained attached to Smith, whom he cast in his playStrip the Willowin 1960.

In her 2004 interview withThe Guardian, Smith spoke about her relationship with Cross and revealed that she was 18 years old when they were introduced and that he proposed despite being married at the time. Smith also said that she hadn’t wanted to join the National Theater, and that meeting her first husband “… was entirely Bev’s fault. Because he made me go to the National Theatre when I had already said no.”

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In a 2013 interview with60 Minutes, Smith spoke briefly about mourning the loss of her husband.

“I don’t know. It seems a bit pointless,” she told interviewer Steve Kroft. “Going on one’s own and not having someone to share it with.”

And when asked if she was interested in finding someone else, Smith immediately replied, “Absolutely not. I– no way.”

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go tosuicidepreventionlifeline.org.

source: people.com