Jean Brodie

Maggie Smith as the title character in the film adaptation of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Jean Brodie is the name of a fictional character in the Muriel Spark novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), as well as in the play and 1969 film of the same name—both by Jay Presson Allen—which were both based on the novel.

Miss Brodie is a highly idealistic character with an exaggerated romantic view of the world; many of her catchphrases have become clichés in the English language.

The fictional Miss Brodie claims she is a direct descendant of Deacon William Brodie, a fashioner of gibbets who was executed on a gibbet that he may have designed himself.