sentences:  She received her sixth Academy Award nomination for the 2001 film "Gosford Park", directed by Robert Altman, and won her first Emmy Award for the 2003 TV film "My House in Umbria".On stage, she starred as Madeleine Palmer, opposite Judi Dench, in the David Hare play "The Breath of Life" in 2002, toured Australia in Alan Bennett's "Talking Heads" in 2004, and starred in "The Lady from Dubuque" in 2007.Beginning in 2010, Smith appeared as Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, in the British period drama "Downton Abbey".