Inside Actress Maggie Smith's 23-Year-Long Second-Chance Marriage to Beverley Cross, the Love of Her Life

Maggie Smith, an Oscar-winning actress known for her standout performances in Harry Potter and Downton Abbey, passed away peacefully in a London hospital on Friday, September 27, 2024, at 89 years old, multiple outlets reported. While it’s a devastating loss for her friends, family, fans, and the entertainment industry, there’s no doubt that Smith’s legacy will live on—not only through her influential acting career, but also her awe-inspiring marriage to her second husband, the late playwright Beverley Cross. 

Smith had a beautiful 23-year long marriage that ended too soon due to her late husband’s passing on March 20, 1998, from a series of aneurysms. Even though the series of events that led to their long-term romance was unconventional, it’s proof that the two of them were fated to be together. 

Smith and Cross met in 1952 when they were both attending a student revue at Oxford University, where Cross was a student, according to Bright Side. Smith was just 18 years old at the time. When they first met, Cross was already married to fellow classmate Elizabeth Clunies-Ross, but he was reportedly quite taken with Smith and decided to divorce his wife. Since the divorce process took longer than expected, per People, they began seeing one another before his divorce was finalized.

Eventually, Smith joined the National Theater at the Old Vic, where she met her first husband, Robert Stephens. In 2004, Smith told The Guardian that meeting Stephens “was entirely Bev’s fault” since he was the one who encouraged her to get involved in the National Theater—even though she had already dismissed the suggestion. Smith went on to marry Stephens, but after eight years together, she ended her partnership with her former husband in 1975 due to infidelity.

At the time of Smith’s divorce from Stephens, Cross was married to his second wife, model Gayden Collins, but once he discovered Smith was available, he quickly filed for divorce. The same year that Smith divorced Stephens, 1975, she married Cross. “I’m remarkably fortunate,” she expressed, according to the New York Times. “When you meet again someone you should have married in the first place, it’s like a script. That kind of luck is too good to be true.”

While they were married, Cross took on a fatherly role to Smith’s two sons, Chris and Toby, whom she had with her first husband, and they enjoyed a blissful marriage until Cross’s passing. After her loss, Smith opened up about the difficult time she had grieving her late spouse. “I still miss him so much it’s ridiculous,” she admitted to host Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes. “People say it gets better, but it doesn’t. It just gets different, that’s all.” She also noted that life without Cross seemed “a bit pointless.” When Kroft asked whether Smith would ever consider remarrying, she instantly replied, “Absolutely not. I don’t think I would find anyone who could come anywhere near Bev.”