Two-time Academy Award-winning actress Dame Maggie Smith, beloved for her iconic roles as Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter and the dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey, has died. She was 89 years old.
Smith’s death was announced by her family in a statement, who noted the actor passed away peacefully among family and friends.
The Legacy of Maggie Smith
Smith garnered widespread acclaim as one of Britain’s outstanding performers.
During her 60-plus-year career, Smith worked with the greatest directors and actors. She was nominated for six Academy Award, winning Best Actress for 1969’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Best Supporting Actress for 1978’s California Suite.
In 2010, Smith landed only a role she could play: Lady Violet in Julian Fellowes’ Downton Abbey. She won two consecutive Emmy Awards for her performance in the show.
Smith’s honors and trophy case are second to none. In addition to her two Oscars, she won four Emmys, three Golden Globes, five BAFTAs, a Tony, and an honorary Olivier Award.
She became one of 21 actors to ever win an EGOT.
The late Queen Elizabeth named her a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1990.
Actors Remember Smith’s Legacy
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit star Whoopi Goldberg, who shared the screen with Smith in the 1993 sequel to Sister Act, shared an image of the two together on Instagram with the caption: “Maggie Smith was a great woman and a brilliant actress,” she wrote. “I still can’t believe I was lucky enough to work with the ‘one-of-a-kind.’ My heartfelt condolences go out to the family….RIP.”
Another one of Dame Smith’s co-stars shared similar statements online, Harry Potter co-star Rupert Grint.
“Heartbroken to hear about Maggie. She was so special, always hilarious and always kind. I feel incredibly lucky to have shared a set with her and particularly lucky to have shared a dance. I’ll miss you Maggie. Sending all my love to her family,” Grint wrote on Instagram.
The Royal Family also chimed in expressing their grief on social media.
On Friday, the West End Theater announced that it would be dimming its light in memorial of Dame Smith. The theatre’s co-CEO Hannha Essex says “Today, the theatre world and the nation have lost an icon.”
Smith’s Harry Potter co-stars also shared their grief. Emma Watson wrote “As I’ve become an adult that I’ve come to appreciate that I shared a screen with the true definition of greatness” on an Instagram story.
Daniel Radcliffe shared a story about meeting Dame Maggie Smith at the age of nine, where he nervously asked if he should call her “Dame,” and she kindly told him not to be ridiculous.
“The word legend is overused, but if it applies to anyone in our industry, then it applies to her. Thank you, Maggie,” Radcliff adds in his Instagram post.
Dame Maggie Smith is mourned by her two sons, Chris Larkin, 57, and Toby Stephens, 55, and her five grandchildren, Daisy Grace, Nathanial, Kura, Elijah Stephans and Tallulah Tara.
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