DAME Maggie Smith and Beverly Cross were destined to be together, but their journey towards matrimony was long and filled with obstacles.
After his death in 1998, Maggie described life without her man as “pointless”.
Who was Beverly Cross?
Beverley Cross was an accomplished English playwright and screenwriter who became Dame Maggie Smith’s second husband.
Although he was smitten with her from the moment they met, the writer had to wait over 20 years to finally wed the woman of his dreams.
Early life and career
Born on April 13, 1931, in London, Beverly came from a theatrical family and began his career writing children’s plays in the 1950s.
He achieved early success with his first adult play, One More River, which premiered in 1958 and dealt with a mutiny where a crew puts its first officer on trial for manslaughter.
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Throughout the 1960s, Beverly’s career flourished.
He translated Marc Camoletti’s French farce Boeing Boeing in 1962, which had a lengthy run in London’s West End.
Beverly also wrote the book for the successful musical comedy Half a Sixpence, based on H.G. Wells’ novel Kipps, which opened in 1963.
Transition to screenwriting
Beverly became well known for writing screenplays, enjoying a career in the movie industry spanning over two decades.
He wrote the scripts for some massive films, including Jason and the Argonauts (1963), Genghis Khan (1965) and Clash of the Titans (1981).
Love at first sight
The relationship between Beverly and Maggie began in 1952 at Oxford University.
It was love at first sight for the writer when he spotted 18-year-old Maggie, even though he was already married to someone else.
Despite marrying his Oxford classmate Elizabeth Clunies-Ross, Beverly had his heart set on Maggie.
Proposal
Unable to shake the feeling that she was the one, he divorced his wife and quickly proposed to her.
The divorce took much longer than expected, so Beverley begged for Maggie to wait for him.
Despite this, their relationship took a dramatic turn when Maggie married actor Robert Stephens in 1967.
During their eight-year marriage, Maggie and Robert had two kids before calling it quits in 1975.
It seems a bit pointless. Going on one’s own and not having someone to share it with
Maggie Smith
When Maggie’s marriage to Robert ended in divorce, Beverly wasted no time at all and finally tied the knot with Maggie later the same year.
On finally getting her man, Maggie said: “I’m remarkably fortunate.
“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.”
Children
Beverly and Maggie never had children together.
But as Maggie’s husband, Beverly became stepfather to her children from her previous marriage.
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They had two sons, actors Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens.
Later career and death
His last work for the theatre was an adaptation of The Scarlet Pimpernel, which played at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London in 1985.
He also wrote opera librettos for composers Richard Rodney Bennett and Nicholas Maw.
Beverley passed away on March 20, 1998, at the age of 66, due to an aneurysm.
Maggie often referred to Cross as the “rock” of her life in interviews, and his death deeply affected her.
In a 2013 interview with 60 Minutes, she said: “It seems a bit pointless. Going on one’s own and not having someone to share it with.”
Maggie’s passing and cause of death
On September 27, 2024, Maggie passed away.
While no official cause of death was given, she previously opened up about her health battles, including treatment for Graves’ disease in 1988.
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Maggie described her experience of Graves disease and thyroid eye disease as a “fog of despair” in a newspaper interview.
In 2007, it emerged Maggie had been diagnosed with breast cancer, but she thankfully went on to make a full recovery.
Her sons Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens said she died in hospital early in the morning.
In a statement issued via their publicist, they said: “It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith.
“She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27th September.
“An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end.
“She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their care and unstinting kindness during her final days.
“We thank you for all your kind messages and support and ask that you respect our privacy at this time.”