British actor Dame Maggie Smith dead at 89
Dame Maggie Smith, the Oscar-winning British actor best known for her roles in Harry Potter and Downton Abbey, has passed away aged 89.
News of her passing has been confirmed by her children, Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin. At this stage, they have not revealed the cause of death, and have pleaded with the public to giver them privacy while they grieve.
The statement began: “It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith. She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27th September. An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end. She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their care and unstinting kindness during her final days,” the message continued.
Stephens and Larkin continued: “We thank you for all your kind messages and support and ask that you respect our privacy at this time.”
Notably, Smith won two Academy Awards during her esteemed career, as well as five Baftas, four Emmys and three Golden Globes. This establishes her as one of Britain’s most decorated stars, not to mention how revered her stage work was.
Smith’s acting career lasted for more than 70 years, having got her first taste for the stage while a student in Oxford in 1952. Four years later, she was performing on Broadway, which was also the same year that she appeared in her first film, Child In The House.
Her big break arrived in 1959 thanks to her show-stealing role in Nowhere to Go, which led to Smith securing her first Bafta nomination. It took until 1965 for Smith’s name to gain international stature in the world of acting when she landed an Academy Award nod in the ‘Best Supporting Actress’ category for Othello.
The good times continued to roll for Smith, and in 1970, the Academy celebrated Smith with the coveted ‘Best Leading Actress’ award for her starring role in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
Throughout this period, Smith remained committed to the stage despite her status as a Hollywood star. She delicately balanced performing in Broadway in plays such as Noël Coward’s Private Lives or in the West End in Ingmar Bergman’s Hedda Gabler with movies like California Suite opposite Michael Caine, which saw her receive another Academy Award nomination.
For the younger generation, Smith is best known for her role in the Harry Potter series of films. She portrayed Professor Minerva McGonagall in seven of the eight movies based on J.K. Rowling’s books of the same name. Furthermore, Smith also starred in the successful ITV series, Downton Abbey, which led to two spin-off films in 2019 and 2022.
During an interview with the Evening Standard in 2019, Smith revealed that she was grateful for the opportunity, but ultimately, it wasn’t as gratifying as other work in her career, staring, “I am deeply grateful for the work in Potter and indeed Downton but it wasn’t what you’d call satisfying. I didn’t really feel I was acting in those things.”
Smith candidly revealed that she only accepted those roles because they were the only ones available, and if she had her way, she’d have been performing in the West End or Broadway, adding, “I wanted to get back to the stage so much because theatre is basically my favourite medium, and I think I felt as though I’d left it all unfinished But there wasn’t anything that came along.”
The final role of Smith’s career came in 2023, when she appeared in Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s movie, The Miracle Club.
She is survived by her two children, Toby and Chris.
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