Meet Maggie Smith’s son Toby Stephens: he’s an actor like his late Downton Abbey star mother, dodged nepo baby accusations, and recently revealed he was filming when his mum died last year

Feb 20, 2025

Maggie Smith with her younger son, fellow thespian Toby Stephens. Photo: Getty Images

Stephens’ parents were wary of his interest in acting and he had an agreement never to work with his famous mother; he later became the youngest Bond villain, starring with Pierce Brosnan

Last year, the world lost Dame Maggie Smith and we’re yet to recover from the heartbreak. But now, the storied actress’ younger son, Toby, 55, whom she shared with her ex-husband, actor Sir Robert Stephens, is revealing more details about her final moments.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Toby expressed his regret about not being with his mother when she took her last breath at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, in September. “The last two years of her life had been a decline: she would get worse, then she would get better, then she would get worse,” he recalled. “So I said, ‘Look, I’ve got this film,’ and before I could even ask her, she said, ‘Go do it. God, you don’t want to hang round here, I’m fine.’”

Maggie Smith celebrates winning her best-actress Oscar (for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie) with husband Robert Stephens and friends in 1970. Photo: TNS

The film was Taratoa Stappard’s Marama, a Māori gothic horror movie set in the 1800s, reports Variety. But a day before the project wrapped, the beloved Harry Potter actress died. Her elder son, Chris Larkin, was by her side. “I was so sad not to be with him, I found that very difficult,” Stephens told The Sunday Times.

Who is Toby Stephens, who gave up alcohol to turn his life around and who says he feels “incredibly lucky”?

Toby Stephens is an actor

Toby Stephens as Poseidon in the 2023 Disney+ TV series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Photo: IMDb

Stephens’ parents never pushed him towards acting. In fact, they questioned him about his motivation for wanting to work in the industry. Still, he studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (Lamda), says the Daily Mail, graduating in 1991. Three years later he played the lead in a production of Coriolanus by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

After breaking into the film industry he became the youngest Bond villain, starring as Gustav Graves opposite Pierce Brosnan’s 007 in Die Another Day (2002). His extensive resume also includes a stint as Mr Rochester in the 2006 TV adaptation of Jane Eyre, the evil Prince John in 2009 BBC series Robin Hood and appearances in Netflix’s One Day and Lost in Space.

He was subjected to nepo baby allegations

Toby Stephens as Damian Cray in Amazon TV series Alex Rider. Photo: IMDb