Dave J Hogan/Getty Images(LONDON) — Maggie Smith just celebrated her 80th birthday, but says she’ll keep working in television and film as long as physically possible.
“When you’re not working it’s scary, and when you are working it’s scary, because you don’t know if you’ve got the energy to get through the day. But the bleakness of not doing it, and missing out on the friendships that you make, is too much to bear,” she told U.K.’s The Sunday Times.
In fact, Smith just started filming the sixth season of her hit show Downton Abbey, but admits this is probably the last season — at least for her.
“They say this is the last one, and I can’t see how it could go on,” Smith added. “I mean, I certainly can’t keep going. To my knowledge, I must be 110 by now. We’re into the late 1920s.”
One drawback from this huge show has been that Smith now has to deal with real celebrity.
“What’s sad is I’ve gone through my whole life without any of that. I could go round galleries and things on my own and I just can’t do it now. If someone decides to get at you, you can’t get away,” she added. “What’s awful is it used to be just autographs, but now everyone wants photographs. You begin to feel like all those people who believed photographs took the soul away. There’s nothing like privacy, but nobody will have that soon. Nobody’s private anymore.”
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