Key Points
- Dame Maggie Smith has died at 89, her family has announced.
- Smith was best known for her roles in Harry Potter and Downton Abbey.
- She is being remembered as a “national treasure” and “simply legendary”.
British actor Dame Maggie Smith is being remembered as an icon of the screen and stage following her death at the age of 89.
Throughout her career, she won two Academy Awards, four Emmys, and a Tony.
In the 21st century, she was best known as Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies, and the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey.
“She will forever be remembered as one of the greatest actors this country has had the inestimable pleasure of witnessing,” the National Theatre wrote in a statement.
“Her deep intelligence, effortless dexterity, sublime craft and sharp wit were simply legendary.”
King Charles said he was deeply saddened to learn of Smith’s death.
“As the curtain comes down on a national treasure, we join all those around the world in remembering with the fondest admiration and affection her many great performances and her warmth and wit that shone through both on and off the stage.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Smith “introduced us to new worlds with the countless stories she acted over her long career”.
“She was beloved by so many for her great talent, becoming a true national treasure whose work will be cherished for generations to come,” he said.
Who was Dame Maggie Smith?
Margaret Natalie Smith was born on 28 December 1934, in Essex, northeast of London. She moved to Oxford as a small child and she began acting in the local theatre at 17.
After starting on stage in the 1950s, Smith became a fixture at Britain’s new National Theatre in the 1960s, working alongside Laurence Olivier.
Smith’s first Academy Award nomination was for her turn playing Desdemona opposite Laurence Olivier’s Othello in 1965, before winning the Oscar for her role as an Edinburgh schoolmistress in 1969’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
She won her second Oscar for her supporting role in the 1978 comedy California Suite.
In 1990 Smith was knighted by Queen Elizabeth and became a Dame.
She died in hospital in London early on Friday, her sons Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens said.
“An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end,” they said in a statement.