Meddling Maggie

Maggie Smith excels at playing the meddling spinster aunt/cousin/sister, and does another fine job in "Washington Square". All along she reminded me of cousin Charlotte in "A Room with a View"
And when Katherine Sloper cries, "You ruin everything you touch!" it was the final deciding factor! I was thinking of the late scene in which Miss Honeychurch, confronted by George's loudly stated sentiments in the study, with cousin Charlotte guarding the door, finally reproaches her for her interference.

All that aside, I wonder how an actress like Smith could become so typecast, and content to be so...