Harry Potter and Downton Abbey actress dies at 89

Actress Dame Maggie Smith, recognized for the Harry Potter movies and Downton Abbey, has died on the age of 89, her household has stated.

A legend of British stage and display, she gained two Oscars throughout her profession – for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1970 and California Suite in 1979.

She had 4 different nominations, and obtained seven Bafta awards.

Main the tributes, Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated Dame Maggie “was beloved by so many for her nice expertise, changing into a real nationwide treasure whose work might be cherished for generations to come back”.

Within the Harry Potter movies, Dame Maggie performed the acerbic Professor Minerva McGonagall, well-known for her pointed witch’s hat and stern method with the younger wizards at Hogwarts.

In hit ITV drama Downton Abbey, she performed Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, the grand matriarch who excelled at withering one-liners by means of the present’s six sequence.

A press release from her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin stated: “It’s with nice disappointment we have now to announce the demise of Dame Maggie Smith.

“She handed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday twenty seventh September.

“An intensely personal individual, she was with family and friends on the finish. She leaves two sons and 5 loving grandchildren who’re devastated by the lack of their extraordinary mom and grandmother.”

They thanked “the fantastic employees on the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for his or her care and unstinting kindness throughout her remaining days”.

They added: “We thanks for all of your variety messages and help and ask that you simply respect our privateness at the moment.”

Tributes had been additionally paid by her co-stars.

Hugh Bonneville, who appeared in Downton Abbey, stated: “Anybody who ever shared a scene with Maggie will attest to her sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable expertise.

“She was a real legend of her technology and fortunately will reside on in so many magnificent display performances. My condolences to her boys and wider household.”

Dame Maggie additionally reprised her position for the 2 Downton Abbey movies.

In 2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Period, her character died of the sickness she revealed on the finish of the 2019 movie, to the large upset of her household and associates.

Downton adopted the success of 2002 interval drama Gosford Park, which earned Dame Maggie each Oscar and Bafta nominations for enjoying Dowager Countess of Trentham.

In his assertion on Friday, the prime minister stated Dame Maggie “launched us to new worlds with the numerous tales she acted over her lengthy profession”.

“Our ideas are together with her household and family members. Might she relaxation in peace,” he wrote.

Dame Kristin Scott-Thomas, who starred alongside Dame Maggie in 2005’s Holding Mum and 2014’s My Outdated Woman, stated she “took appearing very severely however noticed by means of the nonsense and razzmatazz”.

“She actually didn’t wish to take care of that,” Dame Kristin added.

“She had a way of humour and wit that would cut back me to a blithering puddle of giggles. And he or she didn’t have endurance with fools. So that you needed to be a bit cautious. I completely adored her.

“The final time I noticed her, she was very cross about being previous. ‘Maddening’ I feel she stated. A lot beloved, a lot admired and irreplaceable.”

A Nationwide Theatre spokesperson stated her profession “spanned the theatrical, movie and tv world the ultimate”.

Praising her stage performances, the assertion added: “She is going to perpetually be remembered as one of many biggest actors this nation has had the inestimable pleasure of witnessing.

“Her deep intelligence, easy dexterity, elegant craft and sharp wit had been merely legendary.”

Bafta added that she was a “legend of British stage and display”, praising her 5 aggressive Bafta wins, plus the particular award and fellowship she obtained from the organisation.

Dame Maggie’s profession spanned eight a long time, with early acclaim coming when she gained her first Bafta nomination for Nowhere to Go in 1958.

In 1963, she was provided the a part of Desdemona in Othello on the Nationwide Theatre by Laurence Olivier, and two years later it was made into a movie and Smith was nominated for her first Oscar.

The actress’s different memorable roles included 1985 Service provider Ivory movie A Room With a View, through which she performed the chaperone Charlotte Barlett, accompanying Helen Bonham Carter’s Lucy Honeychurch to Italy.

The position earned her one other Oscar nomination and a Bafta.

And together with one other nationwide treasure, Dame Judi Dench, she appeared as an English lady dwelling in Thirties Italy within the movie Tea with Mussolini, which was launched in 1999.

The 2 dames additionally shared display time in A Room With a View and The Greatest Unique Marigold Lodge.

Dame Maggie performed the agency however honest Reverend Mom within the two Sister Act movies, starring Whoopi Goldberg as nightclub singer Doloris Wilson, who takes refuge from the mob in San Francisco by posing as a nun in a neighborhood convent.

Goldberg known as Dame Maggie “a fantastic lady and an excellent actress”, including: “I nonetheless can’t consider I used to be fortunate sufficient to work with the ‘one-of-a-kind’.”

Rob Lowe, who starred with Dame Maggie in 1993’s Instantly, Final Summer time, recalled “the unforgettable expertise of working together with her”.

“Sharing a two-shot was like being paired with a lion,” he stated.

“She may eat anybody alive, and infrequently did. However humorous, and nice firm. And suffered no fools.

“We’ll by no means see one other. God pace, Ms Smith!”

The veteran actress additionally performed the previous lady who spent 15 years dwelling in a van exterior Alan Bennett’s home in a movie adaptation of the author’s The Woman within the Van in 2015.

Her remaining roles included 2023’s The Miracle Membership, which follows a gaggle of girls from Dublin who go on a pilgrimage to the French city of Lourdes, co-starring Kathy Bates and Laura Linney.