Forbes StaffAged 89, the actor who played the dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey breathed her last on Friday.
This is shocking and sad news for all the fans of Professor McGonagall of Harry Potter. British actress Maggie Smith is no more, and fans all around the world are grieving. On Friday, the legendary actress breathed her last at 89. She played the dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey and Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films.
Maggie Smith is no more.
Maggie Smith, the acting legend who won an Oscar for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969 and won new fans for her roles as the dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey and Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter films, died on Friday. She was 89. In a statement issued through publicist Clair Dobbs, her sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, said that their mother died early Friday in a London hospital, stating, “She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.”
Maggie Smith leaves behind her legacy in the world of entertainment.
To all her fans all over the world, Maggie Smith enchanted them with her performance in Downton Abbey as the dowager Countess of Grantham, a role that seemed tailor-made for an actress known for purse-lipped asides and malicious cracks, and with her performance as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films. Leaving behind her legacy in the industry with her incredible roles and performances over the years, she is one of the few actors to have won the treble of an Oscar (two), Emmy (four), and Tony. Her career, which began on the stage in the 1950s, spanned multiple decades, entertaining generations of audiences worldwide.
Awards and recognitions of Maggie Smith.
Her first Academy Award nomination was for her role 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, a performance that prompted co-star Michael Caine to say, “Maggie didn’t just steal the film; she committed grand larceny.”
Other critically acclaimed roles of Maggie Smith include Lady Bracknell in Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, a 92-year-old bitterly fighting senility in Edward Albee’s play Three Tall Women, and her part in the 2001 black comedy movie Gosford Park. In 1990, Queen Elizabeth knighted Maggie Smith, becoming a Dame.
