Career: Linney's professional career began on Broadway, where she was acclaimed for her work in several productions. She started appearing in small roles in films and on TV in the early 1990s, but began landing bigger parts after the first instalment of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City was broadcast. Movies Primal Fear, The Truman Show and Absolute Power followed. She reunited with the director of Absolute Power, Clint Eastwood, for Mystic River, and bagged Oscar nominations for Kinsey, You Can Count on Me and The Savages. Other notable work includes Love Actually, Frasier, and The Squid and the Whale, while her extraordinary turns in miniseries John Adams and comedy drama The Big C have been widely acclaimed.

Career: During the 1970s, Bates concentrated on New York stage work. Her first film was 1971's Taking Off, and she continued to work steadily on TV and in movies until her big break in 1990's Misery. She won an Oscar for her portrayal of a psychotic nurse in the production. Bates disrobed for the films At Play in the Fields of the Lord and About Schmidt (which also landed her an Oscar nomination), and won acclaim for Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe and Primary Colors. She's also appeared in Titanic, Dolores Claiborne and The Waterboy. She had a lead role in David E Kelley's American TV legal comedy-drama Harry's Law.

Career: Smith rose to prominence on stage during the 1950s thanks to regular West End roles. Her first film, 1956's Child in the House, didn't set the box office alight, but she eventually gained international acclaim thanks to her role in Othello nine years later. She won an Oscar for 1969's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and has since appeared in such acclaimed productions as California Suite (for which she picked up another Academy Award), A Room with a View, and Gosford Park. She became a Dame of the British Empire in 1990. More recently, Smith gained a new fan base thanks to her role as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies, appeared in the films Ladies in Lavender and Keeping Mum, and TV series Downton Abbey. She has also battled breast cancer.