Key points
- Dame Maggie Smith has died aged 89, her family have announced.
- Smith was best known for her roles in Harry Potter and Downton Abbey.
- She is remembered as a “national treasure” and “simply legendary”.
British actress Dame Maggie Smith is being remembered as an icon of screen and stage following her death at the age of 89.
Over the course of his career, he has won two Academy Awards, four Emmys and a Tony.
In the 21st century, she was better known as Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter films and the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey.
“She will forever be remembered as one of the greatest actresses this country has had the inestimable pleasure of witnessing,” the National Theater wrote in a statement.
“His profound intelligence, his effortless dexterity, his sublime craftsmanship and his keen wit were simply legendary.”
King Charles said he was deeply saddened to learn of Smith’s death.
“As the curtain falls on a national treasure, we join all those around the world who remember with the warmest admiration and affection his many great performances and his warmth and spirit that shines through both on and off the stage.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Smith “has introduced us to new worlds with the countless stories he has acted in over his long career”.
“She was loved by so many for her great talent, becoming a true national treasure whose work will be appreciated for generations to come,” he said.
Who was Mrs. Maggie Smith?
Margaret Natalie Smith was born on 28 December 1934, in Essex, north-east of London. She moved to Oxford as a child and began acting in local theater at 17.
Having made his stage debut in the 1950s, Smith became a fixture at Britain’s new National Theater in the 1960s, working alongside Laurence Olivier.
Smith’s first Oscar nomination was for her role as Desdemona opposite Laurence Olivier’s Othello in 1965, before winning the Oscar for her role as Edinburgh’s schoolmistress in the 1969 film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie .
He won his second Oscar for his 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 Friday morning, her sons Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens said.
“An extremely private person, he was ultimately with friends and family,” they said in a statement.