Maggie Smith, the respected British actress known for her work in theater, movies, and TV for over 60 years, has passed away. She was 89 years old.
Her sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, confirmed she had died in a statement to the Press Association.
Smith has acted in over 50 movies and is known as one of the most famous actresses in Britain. Many people, especially younger fans, loved her for her parts as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the “Harry Potter” series and as the Dowager Countess of Grantham in the popular TV show “Downton Abbey.”
Smith not only won two Academy Awards but also received five BAFTA Awards, four Emmy Awards, three Golden Globes, five Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award. In 1990, she was honored with the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Smith was born in Ilford, Essex, but when she was just 4 years old, her family moved to Oxford. Her dad was a public health pathologist and had a job at Oxford University. She went to Oxford High School until she turned 16, and then she decided to leave school to pursue acting at the Oxford Playhouse.
In 1952, she started her acting career with the Oxford University Drama Society. Ten years later, she was performing alongside Laurence Olivier and received her first Oscar nomination for the movie “Othello” in 1965.
By 1979, she had won her first Oscar for “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.” Another followed in 1979 for “California Suite.”
Smith acted in many movies during the 1980s and 1990s, like the 1985 film “A Room with a View” and the 1993 comedy “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit” alongside Whoopi Goldberg. However, she really became famous all over the world later in her career when she took part in the “Harry Potter” series, which was released from 2001 to 2011.
In 2010, she was cast as the witty Dowager Countess in “Downton Abbey,” earning her a slew of awards, including three Emmys and a Golden Globe.