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Happy birthday, Dame Maggie Smith! The iconic British actress turns 88 today (December 28), so we're celebrating by taking a look back at some of her funniest moments. After all, this great Dame isn't just known for her award-winning performances in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, California Suite, and Downton Abbey, but also her scalpel-sharp comic timing. Here are seven times she really cracked us up.

1. The time she made a surprising confession.

Smith doesn't give many interviews, but when she appeared on The Graham Norton Show in 2015, she was an absolute scream. In the clip below, she speaks charmingly about gaining a younger fanbase through the Harry Potter movies, then admits she has never actually watched Downton Abbey. Apparently, she "has got the box set" though, so there's still time.

2. The time she talked about being made a Dame.

Released in 2018, Tea with the Dames is a charming but slightly salty documentary in which four great actresses – Smith, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Joan Plowright, and Dame Eileen Atkins – reminisce about their lives, careers, and mutual friendships. Smith is a playful presence throughout, but we particularly love the way she pokes fun at the confusing British honors system. From now on, we'll know never to refer to her as "Mrs. Dame."

3. The time she got real about making the Harry Potter movies.

Smith played Professor Minerva McGonagall, the formidable headmistress of Hogwarts, in all seven films based on J.K. Rowling's novels. It's a fun role that allowed her to show off her impeccable Scottish accent and ability to be kind of frightening. However, as Smith recalled during an event at the British Film Institute, she wasn't always very fond of actually shooting the movies that required her to "wear that daft hat on my head." As ever, her comic timing is killer here.

4. The time she "turned on" Dame Judi Dench.

In a jestful way, anyways. In this Tea with the Dames clip, Smith laments the fact that Dench gets offered all the best roles first. Somehow the fact she briefly slips into a Cockney accent only makes her zingers funnier.

5. The time she bumped into Sir Ian McKellen at the Oscars.

Smith doesn't actually feature in this clip; instead, it's a memorable Sir Ian McKellen anecdote from The Graham Norton Show in which he does a brilliant impression of her, and captures her super-dry sense of humor. Don't worry about Smith and McKellen, though. They're good friends, as these photos of them watching tennis together show.

6. The time she talked about her friendship with Dame Judi Dench.

When Dench received the prestigious BAFTA Fellowship in 2001, Smith was the obvious choice to present the award. Her comments about Dench are affectionate and clearly very genuine, but she also recalls the times when they were a little bit naughty together. Apparently, they got through quite a lot of Prosecco while shooting the 1999 movie Tea with Mussolini in Florence. Well, who could deny they've earned it?

7. And finally, literally every time the Dowager Countess had the last word.

Smith may not have watched Downton Abbey, but we have, and we loved Smith's performance as the grand and sometimes quite savage Dowager Countess. She won three Emmys for this role for good reason, so let's end with a supercut of her deliciously dry one-liners.

Do you have a favorite Maggie Smith role or moment?