| Year | Film | Role |
| 1984 | A Private Function | Joyce Chilvers |
| 1985 | A Room with a View | Charlotte Bartlett |
| 2007 | Becoming Jane | Lady Gresham |
| 1982 | Better Late Than Never | Miss Anderson |
| 1978 | California Suite | Diana Barrie |
| 2007 | Capturing Mary | Mary Gilbert |
| 1981 | Clash of the Titans | Thetis |
| 1999 | Curtain Call | Lily Gale |
| 1999 | David Copperfield | Betsey Trotwood |
| 1978 | Death on the Nile | Miss Bowers |
| 2002 | Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood | Caro Eliza Bennett |
| 2010 | Downton Abbey | Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham |
| 1982 | Evil Under the Sun | Daphne Castle |
| 2009 | From Time to Time | Linnet Oldknow |
| 2011 | Gnomeo and Juliet | Lady Blueberry (voice) |
| 1962 | Go to Blazes | Chantal |
| 2001 | Gosford Park | Constance, Countess of Trentham |
| 2002 | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | |
| 2011 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II | Minerva McGonagall |
| 2005 | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | Minerva McGonagall |
| 2009 | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | Minerva McGonagall |
| 2007 | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | |
| 2001 | Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Sorcerer’s Stone for USA) | Minerva McGonagall |
| 2004 | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Minerva McGonagall |
| 1991 | Hook | Wendy Darling |
| 1968 | Hot Millions | Patty Terwilliger Smith |
| 2005 | Keeping Mum | Grace Hawkins |
| 2004 | Ladies in Lavender | Janet Widdington |
| 1984 | Lily in Love | Lily Wynn |
| 1973 | Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing | Lila Fisher |
| 1992 | Memento Mori | Mrs. Mabel Pettigrew |
| 1976 | Murder by Death | Dora Charleston |
| 2003 | My House in Umbria | Emily Delahunty |
| 2010 | Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang | Mrs. Docherty |
| 1958 | Nowhere to Go | Bridget Howard |
| 1969 | Oh! What a Lovely War | Music Hall Star |
| 1965 | Othello | Desdemona |
| 1981 | Quartet | Lois Heidler |
| 2011 | Quartet | Jean |
| 1995 | Richard III | Duchess of York |
| 1992 | Sister Act | Mother Superior |
| 1993 | Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit | Mother Superior |
| 1993 | Suddenly, Last Summer (BBC TV film) | Violet Venable |
| 1987 | Talking Heads | Susan |
| 1999 | Tea With Mussolini | Lady Hester Random |
| 1974 | The Carol Burnett Show | Gwendylspire Bougraffe |
| 1975 | The Carol Burnett Show | Ms. Collins |
| 1996 | The First Wives Club | Gunilla Garson Goldberg |
| 1967 | The Honey Pot | Sarah Watkins |
| 2011 | The Hunter | |
| 1999 | The Last September | Lady Myra Naylor |
| 1987 | The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne | Judith Hearne |
| 1982 | The Missionary | Lady Isabel Ames |
| 1969 | The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie | Jean Brodie |
| 1964 | The Pumpkin Eater | Philpot |
| 1993 | The Secret Garden | Mrs. Medlock |
| 1963 | The V.I.P.s | Miss Mead |
| 1972 | Travels with My Aunt | Aunt Augusta |
| 1997 | Washington Square | Aunt Lavinia Penniman |
| 1965 | Young Cassidy | Nora |