Maggie Smith Dies: Oscar-Winning Star Of ‘Harry Potter’ & ‘Downton Abbey’ Was 89
Dame Maggie Smith, the British actress who starred in Harry Potter films, the wildly popular Downton Abbey series and scores of other movies, TV shows, West End and Broadway productions in a career that brought two Oscars, five BAFTAs, four Emmys and a Tony Award, died today. She was 89.
Smith’s death was confirmed by her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin. In a statement shared with UK media, they said: “She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27th September. An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end. She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.”
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Smith was one of the finest British screen and stage stars of her generation and will be remembered for her performances in iconic films and TV shows, including Harry Potter and Downton Abbey. Her impressive body of work would include 1965’s Othello opposite Laurence Olivier, Sister Act, Gosford Park, and The Lady in the Van.
In Downton Abbey, she was the waspish Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, who often delivered some of the best lines in Julian Fellowes’ lavish period drama about English aristocrats. Hugh Bonneville, Smith’s Downton co-star, told the BBC that she was a “true legend” of the acting community. “Anyone who ever shared a scene with Maggie will attest to her sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable talent,” he said.
She featured as the formidable Professor McGonagall in the Potter movie series, heading the Gryffindor House and serving as deputy headmistress to Albus Dumbledore.
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Smith won two Oscars during a career that spanned many decades. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie delivered her first Academy Award in 1970. Her second came nine years later for California Suite. Smith also won five BAFTA awards plus a British Academy Fellowship and Special Lifetime Achievement Award and four Emmys — three for Downton Abbey and one for the 2003 TV movie drama My House in Umbria.
Born on December 28, 1934, in Essex, England, Smith began her stage career as a student, performing at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952. A prolific performer with numerous UK credits, Smith’s many cherished performances includes The Private Ear and The Public Eye (both 1962), Ingmar Bergman’s Hedda Gabler (1970), Virginia (1981), The Way of the World (1984), Three Tall Women (1994), A Delicate Balance (1997), The Breath of Life (2002) and, in 2019, A German Life, her final UK stage performance in which she played the longtime secretary of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. In all, she won a record six Evening Standard awards for her stage performances.
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During three seasons in the 1970s at the Stratford Festival in Canada, she starred in Antony and Cleopatra, Macbeth and Richard III.
Smith made her Broadway debut in 1956 as part of the cast of New Faces of 1956 alongside Jane Connell, Billie Hayes, Bill McCutcheon, and others. In 1975, she starred in a production of Noel Coward’s Private Lives directed by John Gielgud, and in 1979 starred in Tom Stoppard’s Night and Day, directed by Peter Wood.
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But perhaps her greatest Broadway achievement came in 1990 with the acclaimed production of Peter Shaffer’s comedy Lettice and Lovage. In a role written specifically for her, Smith played Lettice Douffet, a tour guide at the rather dreary Fustian House, a 16th Century English hall. In response to the bored faces of the House’s visitors, Lettice begins to spin wildly fanciful – and untrue – tales of the hall’s history, delighting the tourists but running afoul of the rather stern official from the Preservation Trust. Both Smith and Margaret Tyzack, who played the supporting role of the official, won Tony Awards for their performances.
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The actress was honored by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990, being made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Smith was married to Robert Stephens between 1967 and 1974. She later wed Beverley Cross in 1975 and remained his wife until his death in 1998. Her sons Stephens and Larkin both followed her into the acting profession.
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their care and unstinting kindness during her final days,” the family statement adds. “We thank you for all your kind messages and support and ask that you respect our privacy at this time.”
Greg Evans contributed to this report.
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