London: Maggie Smith, who won an Oscar for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969 and won new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey, has died. She was 89.
The news was confirmed by her sons Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens who said in a statement: “She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27 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.”
Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey.Credit:
Actors who worked with Maggie Smith paid tribute to the award-winning actor, including Hugh Bonneville who starred alongside Smith in Downton Abbey.
“Anyone who ever shared a scene with Maggie will attest to her sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable talent. She was a true legend of her generation and thankfully will live on in so many magnificent screen performances,” he said.
Smith’s long career started on the stage in the 1950s, and she was one of the few actors to win the treble of an Oscar (two), Emmy (four), and Tony.
Her first Academy Award nomination was for her turn playing Desdemona opposite Laurence Olivier’s Othello in 1965, before winning the Oscar for her role as an Edinburgh schoolmistress in 1969’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
She won her second Oscar for her supporting role in the 1978 comedy California Suite, a performance that prompted co-star Michael Caine to say: “Maggie didn’t just steal the film, she committed grand larceny.”
Other critically acclaimed roles included Lady Bracknell in Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest on the West End stage, a 92-year-old bitterly fighting senility in an Edward Albee play and her part in 2001 black comedy movie Gosford Park.
She was frequently rated the preeminent British actress of a generation which included Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench.
Maggie Smith with fellow actress and dame Judi Dench in 2004.Credit: AP
But for many younger fans in the 21st century, she was best known as Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies, and the Dowager Countess in the hit TV series and movie spin-offs of Downton Abbey, a role that seemed tailor-made for an actress known for purse-lipped asides and malicious cracks.
Smith’s waspish turn in the smash-hit historical series Downton Abbey was the best reason to watch it, and it earned her multiple awards - although it did little for her desire for a private life.
“I led a perfectly normal life until Downton Abbey,” she said at the BFI Radio Times festival in 2017.
“I’m not kidding. I’d go to theatres, I’d go to galleries, things like that, on my own. And now I can’t and that’s awful.”
Maggie Smith holds her Oscar for best supporting actress in the film California Suite in 1979.Credit: AP
Smith was known for being demanding on herself and others. Theatre director Peter Hall, who worked closely with her for many years, said: “She nags herself into perfection.”
She had a tempestuous eight-year marriage to actor Robert Stephens, which ended while they were playing newly entangled divorcees in Noel Coward’s Private Lives. They had two sons - actors Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin.
Actor Hugh Bonneville paid tribute to his former co-star.Credit:
Smith then married her teenage sweetheart, writer Beverley Cross, a rock of imperturbability for her until his death in 1998.
In 1990 Smith was knighted by Queen Elizabeth and became a Dame.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Smith “introduced us to new worlds with the countless stories she acted over her long career”.
“She was beloved by so many for her great talent, becoming a true national treasure whose work will be cherished for generations to come,” he said.
Julian Fellowes, who created, wrote and produced Downton Abbey said in a statement to the AP: “Maggie Smith was a truly great actress and we were more than fortunate to be part of the last act in her stellar career.”
“She was a joy to write for, subtle, many-layered, intelligent, funny and heartbreaking. Working with her has been the greatest privilege of my career, and I will never forget her.”
AP and Reuters