In 1989, I took time out from working on my thesis to join hundreds of others as extras in Peter Greenaway’s Grand Guignol film The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. Liz Smith had a minor role, though of course stole every scene she was in. At odds with the somewhat bizarre nature of the plot, the staging, the artifice and its aesthetic, she was totally unpretentious. She happily spent all the set-up time chatting to us extras, rather than withdraw to the actors’ cafe/lounge. She was elegant, witty and utterly charming.
