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Maggie Smith, the actor finest identified for her roles in Downton Abbey and the Harry Potter movies, has died aged 89.
Smith’s dying on Friday at a London hospital was confirmed in an announcement from her sons Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens.
“An intensely non-public particular person, 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 mentioned.
Smith’s award-winning profession spanned seven many years, beginning in revues in Oxford in 1952. She went on to win two Oscars, eight Baftas, 4 Emmys and one Tony.
Though she described them as “a gallery of grotesques” and quipped that she had solely taken the position of Professor Minerva McGonagall as her “pension”, the roles Smith adopted within the latter phases of her profession have been her most memorable.
As Prof McGonagall within the Harry Potter movies and Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey, her acerbic wit was on full show.
She as soon as summed up her life as: “One went to high school, one needed to behave, one began to behave, one’s nonetheless appearing.”
Hugh Bonneville, Smith’s co-star in Downton Abbey, mentioned: “Anybody who ever shared a scene with Maggie will attest to her sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable expertise.”
Principally identified for her work on stage through the early years of her profession having joined the Nationwide Theatre firm in 1963, Smith’s breakout position on display got here within the 1969 movie adaptation of Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. She gained an Oscar for her efficiency within the titular position.
Smith adopted that up in 1979 with the Oscar for finest supporting actress for her rendition of Diana Barrie in California Suite.
Smith was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1990, cementing her standing as a number one gentle in a technology of gifted British feminine actors that included fellow dames Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench.
In a publish on X, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer joined the tributes: “She was beloved by so many for her nice expertise, changing into a real nationwide treasure whose work will likely be cherished for generations to return.”
Margaret Natalie Smith was born on December 28 1934 in Ilford, Essex. She married actor Robert Stephens in 1967 with whom she had Chris and Toby. They divorced in 1975 and that yr she married the author Beverley Cross, who died in 1998.
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