\u201cDowntown Abbey\u201d stars are missing their co-star, Dame Maggie Smith, nearly a year after she passed away. <\/a><\/p>\n Kevin Doyle, Allen Leech and Hugh Bonneville reflected on their time working with the late legend while promoting their new film, \u201cDownton Abbey: The Grand Finale,\u201d in an interview with Page Six earlier this week.<\/p>\n Doyle \u2014 who portrays Joseph Molesley, a butler-turned-screenwriter \u2014 remembered how Smith loved to sit off camera and chit-chat with other cast members on set.<\/p>\n Hugh Bonneville, Allen Leach, and Kevin Doyle shared their memories of working with the late Dame Maggie Smith in an interview with Page Six this week. Page Six<\/p>\n Smith played Violet Crawley in the series and two of the spinoff movies. \u00a9PBS\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n \u201cShe loved the girls, didn\u2019t she?\u201d he said, referencing Smith\u2019s on-screen granddaughters played by actresses Michelle Dockery and Laura Carmichael.<\/p>\n \u201cShe had a lovely relationship with the girls,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt was just lovely to see somebody like her, relaxed and just chatting away and telling stories.\u201d<\/p>\n Leech \u2014 who plays the chauffeur-turned-estate manager Tom Branson \u2014 agreed with Doyle, 65, adding that Smith \u201cloved other actors.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[She] loved acting. She loved work,\u201d Leech reminisced.<\/p>\n Doyle said that Smith would chat with cast members on set, including her co-stars Laura Carmichael and Michelle Dockery. \u00a9Focus Features\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n Bonneville loved when Shirley MacLaine and Smith would gossip about old Hollywood on set. \u00a9PBS\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n Bonneville \u2014 who plays Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham \u2014 treasured the memories Smith created when Shirley MacLaine was a special guest star on the series.<\/p>\n \u201c[Smith and MacLaine] were just nattering about the old days and meeting at the Oscars,\u201d the \u201cPaddington\u201d star recalled, adding that they schmoozed about presenting at the Oscars and told stories about Gene Kelly and Laurence Olivier.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you know, I just sat there taking the crumbs from their table,\u201d Bonneville said.<\/p>\n Smith \u2014 who died on Sept. 27, 2024 at the age of 89 \u2014 delighted global audiences with her portrayal of Violet Crawley,<\/a> Dowager Countess of Grantham. The role won her three Emmys and immortalized lines like \u201cWhat is a weekend?\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t be defeatist, dear. It\u2019s very middle-class.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith passed away in 2024 at the age of 89. \u00a9PBS\/Courtesy Everett Collection \/ Everett Collection<\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n
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