Oscar-Winning 'Harry Potter' and 'Downton Abbey' Actress Maggie Smith Dead at 89
"She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning," reads a family statement.
Oscar-winning actress Maggie Smith, whose vast filmography included multiple Harry Potter titles, is dead.
The celebrated British actress, 89, is said to have "passed away peacefully in hospital" on Friday morning, per a statement from sons Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens shared with NBC News.
"She was with friends and family at the end," the statement reads. "She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother."
Smith played Professor Minerva McGonagall in seven Harry Potter franchise entries, a role for which she was beloved by multiple generations. On Downton Abbey, Smith’s performance as Violet Crawley earned her three Primetime Emmys.
Smith also had three Golden Globes (for California Suite, A Room With a View, and Downton Abbey) to her name, not to mention two Academy Awards for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and California Suite, respectively. Her decades-long, frequently acclaimed, and always excellent legacy of memorable performances saw her being honored with a fittingly high volume of additional awards including (but not limited to) several Screen Actors Guild wins, a Tony, and a Critics’ Choice Award.
It should be noted that Smith’s interviews, like the one she did with Mark Lawson for the British Film Institute back in 2017, were often as essential as the performances themselves. Asked by Lawson about how a different type of fame entered her life with Harry Potter and Downtown Abbey, Smith minced no words when describing how the modern age of TV, specifically, had altered the inner workings of her day-to-day existence.
“It’s ridiculous,” she said at the time. “I led a perfectly normal life until Downton Abbey. No, I’m not kidding. I’d go to theaters, I’d go to galleries, things like that. On my own. And now I can’t. And that’s awful. … It’s truly television. I mean, I’ve been working around for a very long time before Downton Abbey and life was fine. Nobody knew who the hell I was. It has changed.”
Hook, Richard III, Death on the Nile, Travels With My Aunt, Gosford Park, The Secret Garden, Sister Act, and numerous other productions benefited greatly from Smith's sharp presence. The Miracle Club, also starring Laura Linney and Kathy Bates, is believed to be her final film role. The drama, directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan (Call the Midwife, Into the Storm), was released last year following a Tribeca Festival premiere.
In short, she was an absolute legend of the screen and beyond.
RIP.
