Maggie Smith, the beloved British stage and screen actress known around the world for roles in Downton Abbey and the Harry Potter films, has died in London at age 89. She passed away peacefully at the hospital on Friday morning according to a statement released by her sons. No cause of death was given.
Smith achieved the rare ‘Triple Crown of Acting,’ having won four Emmys, two Academy Awards and a Tony. She began her career on the stage, performing at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952 and made her Broadway debut in New Faces of ‘56. She went on to establish herself (alongside peers like Judi Dench) as one of the most important and well-known theater performers of her generation. She earned Tony nominations for Noel Coward’s Private Lives in 1975, Tom Stoppard’s Night and Day in 1979, and won the Tony for Best Actress for 1990’s Lettice and Lovage.
Eventually, though, Smith became even better known for her roles on the screen. She received her first Oscar nod for her role alongside Laurence Olivier in Othello, and in 1969, she won the Best Actress Academy Award for her starring role in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, about a teacher at a 1930s Scottish girls’ school who broke conventions by encouraging her students to think for themselves. She won another Oscar, for supporting actress, for 1978’s California Suite, based on the Neil Simon play of the same name, which she starred in with Michael Caine, Alan Alda, Richard Pryor, and Jane Fonda.
Smith continued to collect prestigious prizes for her acting work, including several BAFTAs and two Golden Globes, and became known to younger audiences with her role as the stern but fair Professor Minerva McGonagall in seven of the eight Harry Potter films, from The Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) to The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011).
It wasn’t until the premiere of Downton Abbey, though, (in 2010 in the UK, and the following year in America) that she became a globally recognizable icon. The breakout star of the series, Smith played acerbic dowager countess Violet Crawley, mother to Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) whose disapproval of others knew no bounds. The show ran for six seasons and became a hugely popular phenomenon, with Smith becoming a fan favorite and the winner of three Emmys, a Golden Globe and four Screen Actors Guild awards for her work.
On Friday, Bonneville told the BBC, “Anyone who ever shared a scene with Maggie will attest to her sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable talent. She was a true legend of her generation and thankfully will live on in so many magnificent screen performances. My condolences to her boys and wider family.”
In a statement, Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry Potter alongside Smith’s Professor McGonagall, said: “The first time I met Maggie Smith I was 9 years old and we were reading through scenes for David Copperfield, which was my first job. I knew virtually nothing about her other than that my parents were awestruck at the fact that I would be working with her. The other thing I knew about her was that she was a Dame, so the first thing I asked her when we met was ‘would you like me to call you Dame?’ at which she laughed and said something to the effect of ‘don’t be ridiculous!’ I remember feeling nervous to meet her and then her putting me immediately at ease. She was incredibly kind to me on that shoot, and then I was lucky enough to go on working with her for another 10 years on the Harry Potter films.”
He added: “She was a fierce intellect, a gloriously sharp tongue, could intimidate and charm in the same instant and was, as everyone will tell you, extremely funny. I will always consider myself amazingly lucky to have been able to work with her, and to spend time around her on set. The word legend is overused but if it applies to anyone in our industry then it applies to her. Thank you Maggie.”
Most recently, Smith starred alongside Kathy Bates in 2023’s The Miracle Club, and joined Greta Lee, Dakota Fanning, and Mike Faist for Loewe’s Juergen Teller-shot spring/summer 2024 pre-collection campaign. She is survived by her two sons, actors Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, and five grandchildren.