HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Relief and rescue efforts are underway to help the victims of Hurricane Helene as millions in the southeast are without power.
Many families are getting a helping hand from volunteers here in the Houston area.
Hurricane Helene has ravaged several states in the southeast. Many homes are demolished along with buildings submerged in water.
More than 50 people are dead and millions have been left in the dark.
Now, the American Red Cross’ Texas Gulf Coast Region is stepping into help pick up the pieces by sending 20 people to help with disaster relief efforts.
Nine of them are from Houston’s metro area.
“When we have a hurricane, people come from Florida. The Carolinas help us with recovery efforts. And just like that, we want to be able to go lend a helping hand. Our knowledge and our experience to those families as they are going through that recovery process,” American Red Cross Texas Gulf Coast Regional Disaster Officer Jack Peters said.
Those volunteers have been sent to Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida to help. The first person was deployed this past Monday.
“They are supporting and sheltering in feeding missions, helping with logistics, supplies, caseworks, and helping the needs of those families that have been impacted,” Peters said.
They’re also expected to stay in the region for a minimum of two weeks but often stay longer depending on what the need is. At this point, the Red Cross is still recruiting volunteers for Helene and any possible disaster that could come later.
“Hurricane season is not over. We still have hurricanes that potentially could be coming our way and other areas of the country,” Peters said.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX launched a rescue mission for the two stuck astronauts at the International Space Station on Saturday, sending up a downsized crew to bring them home but not until next year.
The capsule rocketed toward orbit to fetch the test pilots whose Boeing spacecraft returned to Earth empty earlier this month because of safety concerns. The switch in rides left it to NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov to retrieve Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.
Since NASA rotates space station crews approximately every six months, this newly launched flight with two empty seats reserved for Wilmore and Williams won’t return until late February. Officials said there wasn’t a way to bring them back earlier on SpaceX without interrupting other scheduled missions.
By the time they return, the pair will have logged more than eight months in space. They expected to be gone just a week when they signed up for Boeing’s first astronaut flight that launched in June.
NASA ultimately decided that Boeing’s Starliner was too risky after a cascade of thruster troubles and helium leaks marred its trip to the orbiting complex. The space agency cut two astronauts from this SpaceX launch to make room on the return leg for Wilmore and Williams.
Williams has since been promoted to commander of the space station, which will soon be back to its normal population of seven. Once Hague and Gorbunov arrive this weekend, four astronauts living there since March can leave in their own SpaceX capsule. Their homecoming was delayed a month by Starliner’s turmoil.
Hague noted before the flight that change is the one constant in human spaceflight.
“There’s always something that is changing. Maybe this time it’s been a little more visible to the public,” he said.
Hague was thrust into the commander’s job for the rescue mission based on his experience and handling of a launch emergency six years ago. The Russian rocket failed shortly after liftoff, and the capsule carrying him and a cosmonaut catapulted off the top to safety.
Rookie NASA astronaut Zena Cardman and veteran space flier Stephanie Wilson were pulled from this flight after NASA opted to go with SpaceX to bring the stuck astronauts home. The space agency said both would be eligible to fly on future missions. Gorbunov remained under an exchange agreement between NASA and the Russian Space Agency.
“I don’t know exactly when my launch to space will be, but I know that I will get there,” Cardman said from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, where she took part in the launch livestream.
Hague acknowledged the challenges of launching with half a crew and returning with two astronauts trained on another spacecraft.
“We’ve got a dynamic challenge ahead of us,” Hague said after arriving from Houston last weekend. “We know each other and we’re professionals and we step up and do what’s asked of us.”
SpaceX has long been the leader in NASA’s commercial crew program, established as the space shuttles were retiring more than a decade ago. SpaceX beat Boeing in delivering astronauts to the space station in 2020 and it’s now up to 10 crew flights for NASA.
Boeing has struggled with a variety of issues over the years, repeating a Starliner test flight with no one on board after the first one veered off course. The Starliner that left Wilmore and Williams in space landed without any issues in the New Mexico desert on Sept. 6, and has since returned to Kennedy Space Center. A week ago, Boeing’s defense and space chief was replaced.
Delayed by Hurricane Helene pounding Florida, the latest SpaceX liftoff marked the first for astronauts from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. SpaceX took over the old Titan rocket pad nearly two decades ago and used it for satellite launches, while flying crews from Kennedy’s former Apollo and shuttle pad next door. The company wanted more flexibility as more Falcon rockets soared.
TEXAS CITY, Texas (KTRK) — Former Texas City Commissioner Dee Ann Haney made her first court appearance overnight after her latest arrest for allegedly driving while intoxicated, according to court records.
Haney, 61, was held in jail without bond since Friday, where prosecutors have vehemently stated that they plan to keep her there.
During the hearing, Haney told the judge that she didn’t have “financial means” and relied on her parents. She also said she is unsure if she could hire an attorney.
The ex-official also had trouble signing documents, saying she didn’t have glasses or contacts. Haney then told the court that she was on anti-seizure medication and was on a C-PAP machine and inquired if she would have access to those while in jail.
The Texas City Police Department said Haney was arrested early Friday morning in the 1700 block of Bay Street North. Police said Haney told them she was following a reckless driver before three people allegedly attacked her after stopping at a park.
A witness reported seeing Haney rolling down the street and screaming before getting into her truck and driving off.
The witness did not report seeing anybody else with her during the incident.
Haney then told officers that she had taken medication, drank beer, and had a shot of alcohol. She was detained shortly after failing a field sobriety test.
Haney found herself in this position seven months into her court-ordered probation after being found guilty of criminally negligent homicide in 2017. Haney was sentenced to 10 years of probation for a crash that killed a father and son on the Galveston Causeway.
Haney was denied bond for the charge of probation violation for criminally negligent homicide. For the new charge of DWI, her bond was set at $100,000.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — It’s not unusual to find Delta-8 products inside smoke shops in the State of Texas these days. They’re pretty common in gas stations too.
You might be surprised to learn that the Texas Department of State Health (DSHS) Services attempted to ban Delta-8 in 2021.
The ban didn’t go into effect due to legal opposition, but it’s made its way to the Texas Supreme Court.
That court will decide whether or not DSHS has the right to enact such a ban.
Chris Tomlinson has covered the issue with ABC13’s partners at the Houston Chronicle.
“The Texas Supreme Court does not follow any particular schedule,” Tomlinson said about when a decision could be reached. “But we should expect one in the next few months.”
Tomlinson said Delta-based products such as gummies and oils would be banned if DSHS is allowed to follow through with their original plan.
“Basically anything you ingest through your mouth or nose that makes you feel any kind of pleasant sensation would be illegal,” Tomilson said.
Tomlinson said that does not include CBD-based products.
Hemp-derived cannabis products, which include Delta-8, have an annual economic impact of $8 billion in Texas according to research from the Texas Hemp Business Council.
A smoke shop employee who spoke to ABC13 said many shops like his would close if this plan from DSHS came to fruition.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — It finally feels more like fall in Southeast Texas!
With the low humidity and dry air in place, temperatures Friday morning dropped in the low to mid 60s!
Sunshine and the abundance of dry air will make for a “dry heat” in the afternoon with highs just clearing 90 degrees. All things considered, it will still feel pretty nice with that northwest wind and low humidity.
How long will the dry air stick around?
This lovely dry air should hang around for the rest of September. We’ll still have highs in the low-to-mid 90s, but the mornings will be refreshing with crisp lows in the mid 60s. Late next week, humidity levels are expected to sharply rise as tropical moisture rolls back in to bring back chances for rain.
What are you tracking in the tropics?
We are tracking tropical storm Helene as it brings flooding rains and damaging winds to parts of Georgia and Carolinas. We are also watching a low risk development area in the Caribbean. Head to our daily Tropical Update page for the latest on what’s happening in the tropics.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Residents in areas surrounding Houston have sounded the bell about an unpleasant smell and funny taste in their water, but officials say it’s still safe to drink.
On Thursday, the City of Deer Park posted on platform X that they were aware of the complaint and that crews were beginning to flush the system to get rid of the odor and correct the taste.
Deer Park officials said they purchase their untreated water from the city of Houston and tested their water once the detection of the minerals, geosmin and MIB, was found.
Houston Public Works notified the public that routine testing at one of the city’s main water plants revealed the naturally occurring compounds that can cause a “musty or earthy” taste and color.
Officials said the two minerals are harmless, and the water remains safe to drink.
Houston Public Works said that those experiencing it should follow these steps to improve the taste of the water:
Chill the water or add ice
Add a slice of lemon or lemon juice
Use a carbon filter, such as a Brita
There are no orders for residents to boil water at this time.
ATLANTA — Hurricane Helene left an enormous path of destruction across Florida and the entire southeastern U.S. on Friday, killing at least 43 people in four states, snapping trees like twigs, tearing apart homes and sending rescue crews on desperate missions to save people from floodwaters.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said dozens of people were still trapped in buildings damaged by the Category 4 hurricane. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 kph) when it made landfall late Thursday in a sparsely populated region in Florida’s rural Big Bend area, home to fishing villages and vacation hideaways where Florida’s Panhandle and peninsula meet.
But the damage extended hundreds of miles to the north, with flooding as far away as North Carolina, where a lake used in the movie “Dirty Dancing” overtopped a dam. Multiple hospitals in southern Georgia were without power, and one in Tennessee was closed.
Authorities were “having a hard time getting to places” so teams with chainsaws were “working to free up roads,” Kemp told a news conference.
Helene’s devastation comes as climate change exacerbates conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful hurricanes and typhoons, sometimes in a matter of hours.
“Thank God we’re both alive to tell about it,” Rhonda Bell said after a towering oak tree smashed through the roof of her home in Valdosta, Georgia.
A patron looks at the flooding from Hurricane Helene in the Paces neighborhood, Friday, Sept 27, 2024, in Atlanta.AP Photo/Jason Allen
All five who died in one Florida county were in neighborhoods where residents had been told to evacuate, said Bob Gualtieri, the sheriff in Pinellas County in the St. Petersburg area. He said people who stayed because they didn’t believe the warnings wound up hiding in their attics to escape the rising water.
“We tried to launch boats, we tried to use high-water vehicles and we just met with too many obstacles,” Gualtieri said. He said the death toll could rise as emergency crews go door-to-door in the flooded areas.
Deaths also were reported in Georgia and the Carolinas.
Video on social media sites showed sheets of rain coming down and siding coming off buildings in Perry, Florida, near where the storm arrived. One news station showed a home that was overturned, and many communities established curfews.
“It’s really heartbreaking,” said Stephen Tucker, after the hurricane peeled off the brand-new roof of a church in Perry that had to be replaced after last year’s Hurricane Idalia.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the damage from Helene appeared to be greater than the combined damage of Idalia and Hurricane Debby in August. “It’s demoralizing,” he said.
President Joe Biden said he was praying for survivors as the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency headed to the area. The agency has deployed more than 1,500 workers, and they helped with 400 rescues by late morning.
In Tampa, some areas could be reached only by boat. Officials elsewhere warned that the water could contain live wires, sewage, sharp objects and other debris.
“If you are trapped and need help please call for rescuers – DO NOT TRY TO TREAD FLOODWATERS YOURSELF,” the sheriff’s office in Citrus County, Florida, warned in a Facebook post.
More than 4 million homes and businesses were without power Friday morning in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.
The hurricane came ashore near the mouth of the Aucilla River on Florida’s Gulf Coast. That location was only about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of where Idalia hit last year at nearly the same ferocity, causing widespread damage.
Cities as far inland as Atlanta were drenched, with just car roofs poking out of the water in some neighborhoods.
As the hurricane’s eye passed near Valdosta, Georgia, a city of 55,000 near the Florida line, dozens of people huddled early Friday in a darkened hotel lobby. “We heard some rumbling,” said Fermin Herrera, 20, cradling his sleeping 2-month-old daughter in his arms.
Helene is the third storm to strike the city in just over a year. Tropical Storm Debby blacked out power to thousands in August, while Hurricane Idalia damaged an estimated 1,000 homes in Valdosta and surrounding Lowndes County a year ago. Now some downtown storefront windows were shattered and store awnings mangled.
Soon after it crossed over land, Helene weakened to a tropical storm, with its maximum sustained winds falling to 70 mph (110 kph). At 11 a.m. Friday, the storm was about 105 miles (165 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta, moving north at 32 mph (52 kph) with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami reported.
Forecasters expected the system to continue weakening as it moves into Tennessee and Kentucky and drops heavy rain over the Appalachian Mountains, with the risk of mudslides and flash flooding.
Even before landfall, the storm’s wrath was felt widely, with sustained tropical storm-force winds and hurricane-force gusts along Florida’s west coast. Officials begged residents to evacuate.
“Please write your name, birthday, and important information on your arm or leg in a PERMANENT MARKER so that you can be identified and family notified,” the sheriff’s office in mostly rural Taylor County, Florida, warned those who chose not to evacuate in a Facebook post. The dire advice was similar to what other officials have dolled out during past hurricanes.
In North Carolina, forecasters warned of flooding that could be worse than anything seen in the past century. Evacuations were underway in several areas of the state Friday, and around 300 roads were closed. The Connecticut Army National Guard sent a helicopter to help.
“It’s terrible. I don’t know if I will ever see anything like this again,” said Spencer Tate Andrews, of Asheville, North Carolina.
School districts and multiple universities canceled classes. Airports in Florida that closed were to reopen Friday, and inspectors were out examining bridges and causeways along the Gulf Coast to get them back open to traffic quickly, the state’s transportation secretary said.
A day before hitting the U.S., Helene swamped parts of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, flooding streets and toppling trees as it brushed the resort city of Cancun and passed offshore. In western Cuba, Helene knocked out power to more than 200,000 homes and businesses as it brushed past the island.
Helene was the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record-warm ocean temperatures.
Payne reported from Tallahassee, Florida, and Hollingsworth reported from Kansas City, Missouri. Associated Press journalists Seth Borenstein in New York; Jeff Amy in Atlanta; Russ Bynum in Valdosta, Georgia; Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Andrea Rodríguez in Havana; Mark Stevenson and María Verza in Mexico City; and Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, contributed to this report.
Esmeralda Obispo, is a Latina influencer taking over the food scene one “antojo” (craving) at a time. Credit: Edward Saenz
By Indira Zaldivar & Edward Saenz
Since leaving behind the corporate world, food enthusiast Esmeralda Obispo has built a full-time career for herself, reaching tens of thousands of viewers with crave-triggering videos about food spots in Houston and Pasadena. Her mouth-watering content is shared under her notable social media account,“antojoshouston.”
Transition from Corporate Worker to Independent Influencer.
From working in corporate roles including as a business developer for a social media management company, Esmeralda has found career fulfillment by fully transitioning into her role as a successful food influencer.
“I was used to gray and cold…sitting behind a computer for eight hours a day,” Obispo told Que Onda Magazine in an exclusive interview.
“The most interesting thing that would happen was wondering what was for lunch today.”
“Now, I get to meet so many wonderful people through what I do.”
She now finds herself visiting new places, attending events, learning more, and “feeling a lot more connected with everyone in Houston.”
Filling in Cultural Gaps, One Video at a Time
With more than 110,000 followers on Instagram and more than 60,000 on TikTok, this Latina food influencer in her 20s living in Pasadena, Texas fulfills a more meaningful purpose: addressing the lack of content that represents her Hispanic culture.
“At some point, influencers only looked and sounded a certain way,” Obispo said. “Every single post that I saw was representing some other culture that wasn’t Hispanic or Latino. It was mostly everything else but Hispanic.”
“All of the audio was the same,” she said while explaining the cultural gap in content.
“I want someone that sounds like me, I want the music that I listen to. I want someone to take a picture of some really good tacos with some ‘corrido’ in the background.”
Her Mexican heritage, rooted from her parents, is heard loudly through her videos which are narrated in her native Spanish, English, or sometimes “Spanglish.” The Latino music she plays as audio on her reels resonates with those who appreciate Latino musicians beyond trends.
While she showcases Hispanic food insightfully, Esmeralda has also caught the attention of restaurateurs from different backgrounds who want to connect with her and showcase their cuisines from around the world through her powerful platforms.
Overcoming challenges
However, her success story is not without challenges.
“Once I started creating, going to those events, and running into those circles where other influencers were, it was very difficult for me to be accepted,” she shared.
“It was very difficult for them to take me seriously or see me as a serious influencer because I didn’t sound like them, because I didn’t produce the same type of content as them.”
She credits her family—parents, husband, sister, and brother—for encouraging her to grow from the process and move past the negative feedback.
As someone who’s championed through cultural barriers, Esmeralda is thrilled to see so many other Spanish-speaking influencers take over the food scene and influencers from diverse backgrounds branching out into Hispanic food scenes.
To anyone aspiring to follow in her footsteps as a food influencer, she advises to “just get it done.”
“Just go out there and actually get it done because it’s the only way that it will get done.”
“You won’t stop being embarrassed about taking content in front of people unless you practice it. You won’t get better at creating that content unless you practice it. If your fear is that you’re only going to get a couple of views or that it’s not going to give you the results that you want, I’d like to remind them that there is an audience for everything.”
Inspiration Behind Her platform
Esmeralda’s Mexican immigrant parents are also the inspiration behind her successful platforms. From appreciating the culinary knowledge from her chef father who studied in Mexico City, to understanding the importance of food and customer service learned from her mother, who worked as a waitress, Esmeralda has valued the function of food in both the household and beyond from a young age.
The Work Behind the Screen
In roughly 30 seconds, her videos, filled with dynamic shots and mouth-watering visuals can trigger cravings in anyone watching through a phone screen.
That captivating engagement per post is a product of multi-hour work behind the scenes. For this food star, capturing the content is the easiest part and the voiceover is the most fun and time-consuming part of the post-production process.
Although she confessed that this niche started out of boredom, her thoughtful selection of restaurants is now a key, yet evolving, part of the process.
“At the beginning I was bored,” she said. “My sister and I would get in the car and just drive. Whatever we encountered, that’s where we would go in, and I would make a video.”
Later she tried research, which proved to be less helpful due to information overload. Now, she mainly selects restaurants from “DMs” in her inbox.
The Person Behind the Screen Star
Beyond the glamour from her life as a food enthusiast, Esmeralda enjoys being a mother to her beautiful daughter, spending time with her supportive husband and family, and engaging in casual leisure activities such as movies, books, and crossword puzzles.
“Family, antojoshouston and then me,” she said about the order of her priorities.
For anyone interested in connecting with Esmeralda’s antojoshouston, she re-assures that it’s not a long process.
Simply message her directly on Instagram or TikTok, or send an email to start a conversation.
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — While Houston is home to the largest medical complex in the world, data in a recent report on maternal and infant health published by the Harris County Public Health indicates the region has led the country in Black maternal death rates since 2016.
The report lists a number of factors that may contribute to disproportionately poor health outcomes for Black mothers and their children.
Black women are at greater risk for conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, and heart problems, which are known to complicate pregnancy. The discrepancies are partially attributed to historical inequities such as lack of access to nutritious food.
The report also found that Black women who graduated college are 60 times more likely to die during childbirth than white and Hispanic women without high school diplomas.
In 2022, Dionna Jacobs lost her second son, Hendrix, during childbirth.
She told ABC13 that when she and her partner arrived at the hospital, she was “screaming to the top of (her) lungs.”
She said she knew something was wrong, explaining that the pain was not comparable to what she experienced delivering her first child.
“(Staff) would be like ‘Oh, it’s probably just your first baby. Oh, she’s a young mom,’ and I would have to keep saying, ‘No, this is my second baby. No, I’ve actually delivered here before. This is actually my second time delivering at this hospital,'” Jacobs said, adding that her cries for help initially went unanswered by hospital staff.
“When a woman comes into an emergency room screaming, there should be an immediate call to action,” she said.
Jacobs said her partner eventually dug a wheelchair out of a hospital closet himself.
“I definitely think that they just saw a young Black girl and assumed I was being overdramatic of my pain,” she said. “Something in my body was like, ‘You just have to push him out yourself cause clearly nobody here is going to attempt to get him out.'”
She continued, “I beared down, I pushed him out by myself, he landed on the table, nobody caught him. They didn’t catch his neck, didn’t do anything. They just let him lay there.”
She told ABC13 that her pleas to tend to her son were waved off, and one nurse reportedly told her, “Oh no, girl, he’s already gone.”
She said her son’s body was not moved from the table until a Black nurse walked into the room and swaddled him.
“Another African American woman saw me struggling,” she said.
Doctors initially suspected Jacobs’ placenta had ruptured. She says she felt like it was her fault, that her body had failed, and declined an autopsy. She would later learn her placenta was in tact.
“I did not want them to touch my son,” she cried.
To this day, Jacobs still doesn’t know why Hendrix died. But data shows because she is Black in Harris County, he was two to three times more likely to during or before delivery than a white child.
“We are definitely disproportionately disadvantaged. Unfortunately, in this county, we are three to four times more likely to die from childbirth than white women,” Kay Matthews, founder of Shades of Blue, said.
Matthews lost her daughter, Troya, and nearly lost her own life, giving birth 11 years ago. She said she was sent home with discharge papers, her street clothes, and postpartum depression.
“I was given no resources,” she explained.
Her nonprofit now serves more than 3,000 women and family members each year, offering wraparound support services ranging from no-cost psychiatry to clothing.
“It’s making sure that no one has to feel what I feel,” she explained. “Every time I’m doing this, I’m showing up to this building. I assure you that Troya mattered.”
For more updates on this story, follow Shannon Ryan on Facebook, X and Instagram.
LONDON — Maggie Smith, the masterful, scene-stealing actor who won an Oscar for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969 and gained new fans in the 21st century as the Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, died Friday. She was 89.
Smith’s sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, said in a statement that she died early Friday in a London hospital.
“She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother,” they said in a statement issued through publicist Clair Dobbs.
Smith was frequently rated as the preeminent British female performer of a generation that included Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench. She had a clutch of Academy Award nominations and a shelf full of acting trophies.
She remained in demand even in her later years, despite lamenting that “when you get into the granny era, you’re lucky to get anything.”
Smith drily summarized her later roles as “a gallery of grotesques,” including Professor McGonagall. Asked why she took the role, she quipped: “Harry Potter is my pension.”
Richard Eyre, who directed Smith in a television production of Suddenly Last Summer, said she was “intellectually the smartest actress I’ve ever worked with. You have to get up very, very early in the morning to outwit Maggie Smith.”
Jean Brodie, in which she played a dangerously charismatic Edinburgh schoolteacher, brought her the Academy Award for Best Actress and a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) in 1969.
Smith added a Supporting Actress Oscar for California Suite in 1978, Golden Globes for California Suite and Room with a View, and BAFTAs for Lead Actress in A Private Function in 1984, A Room with a View in 1986, and The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne in 1988.
She also received Academy Award nominations as a Supporting Actress for Othello, Travels with My Aunt, Room with a View, and Gosford Park, as well as a BAFTA award for Supporting Actress in Tea with Mussolini. On stage, she won a Tony Award in 1990 for Lettice and Lovage.
Her work in 2012 garnered three Golden Globe nominations for the globally successful Downton Abbey TV series and the films The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Quartet.
Smith had a reputation for being difficult and sometimes upstaging others.
Richard Burton remarked that Smith didn’t just take over a scene in The VIPs with him: “She commits grand larceny.” However, the director Peter Hall found that Smith wasn’t “remotely difficult unless she’s among idiots. She’s very hard on herself, and I don’t think she sees any reason why she shouldn’t be hard on other people, too.”
Smith conceded that she could be impatient at times.
“It’s true I don’t tolerate fools, but then they don’t tolerate me, so I am spiky,” Smith said. “Maybe that’s why I’m quite good at playing spiky elderly ladies.”
Critic Frank Rich, in a New York Times review of Lettice and Lovage, praised Smith as “the stylized classicist who can italicize a line as prosaic as ‘Have you no marmalade?’ until it sounds like a freshly minted epigram by Coward or Wilde.”
Smith famously drew laughs from a prosaic line—”This haddock is disgusting”—in a 1964 revival of Noel Coward’s Hay Fever.
“But unfortunately, the critics mentioned it, and after that, it never got a laugh,” she recalled. “The moment you say something is funny, it’s gossamer. It’s gone, really.”
Margaret Natalie Smith was born in Ilford, on the eastern edge of London, on Dec. 28, 1934. She summed up her life briefly: “One went to school, one wanted to act, one started to act, one’s still acting.”
Her father was assigned to wartime duty in Oxford in 1939, where her theater studies at the Oxford Playhouse School led to a busy apprenticeship.
“I did so many things, you know, round the universities there. … If you were kind of clever enough and I suppose quick enough, you could almost do weekly rep because all the colleges were doing different productions at different times,” she said in a BBC interview.
She took Maggie as her stage name because another Margaret Smith was active in the theater.
Laurence Olivier spotted her talent, invited her to be part of his original National Theatre company, and cast her as his co-star in a 1965 film adaptation of Othello.
Smith said two directors, Ingmar Bergman and William Gaskill, both in National Theatre productions, were important influences.
Alan Bennett, preparing to film the monologue A Bed Among the Lentils, said he was wary of Smith’s reputation for becoming bored. As the actor Jeremy Brett put it, “She starts divinely and then goes off, rather like a cheese.”
“So the fact that we only just had enough time to do it was an absolute blessing really because she was so fresh and just so into it,” said Bennett, who also wrote a starring role for Smith in The Lady in the Van.
However extravagant she may have been on stage or before the cameras, Smith was known to be intensely private.
Simon Callow, who acted with her in A Room with a View, said he ruined their first meeting by spouting compliments.
“I blurted out various kinds of rubbish about her, and she kind of withdrew. She doesn’t like that sort of thing very much at all,” Callow said in a film portrait of the actress. “She never wanted to talk about acting. Acting was something she was terrified to talk about because if she did, it would disappear.”
Smith was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire, the equivalent of a knight, in 1990.
She married fellow actor Robert Stephens in 1967. They had two sons, Christopher and Toby, and divorced in 1975. The same year, she married the writer Beverley Cross, who died in 1998.
Associated Press writer Robert Barr contributed biographical material to this obituary before his death in 2018.
