Dame Maggie Smith has died, her sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, revealed in a new statement on Friday, September 27. She was 89. The actress had a long career on the stage and screen that spanned decades. She charmed audiences with her performances as the Dowager Countess on the TV series Downton Abbey and Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter franchise.
“She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother,” Chris and Toby said in a statement, per the Associated Press.
Maggie was born on December 28, 1934, in Ilford, Essex, in England and was named Margaret Natalie Smith. Maggie knew from a young age that she was destined to be an actress. She joined the Oxford Playhouse School after high school and attended the program from 1951-1953. Maggie booked her first professional acting gig in 1952 and starred as Viola in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night with Oxford University Dramatics Society. She got her big break across the pond on Broadway’s New Faces of 1956 and back in England with Share My Lettuce. By the 1960s, Maggie was a fixture in the National Theatre of Great Britain.
Maggie’s career reached new heights when she shared the stage with Laurence Olivier‘s production of Othello in 1964 as Desdemona. The pair reprised their parts for a film adaptation in 1965. Within a few years, Maggie won the highest film award: an Oscar. She received her first Best Actress Academy Award in 1969 for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Maggie won another Oscar as a supporting actress in 1978 for her part in California Suite.
Maggie continued to astound audiences with her range, performing in stage dramas and even comedies on the screen. Perhaps one of her most beloved roles was as Mother Superior in Sister Act with Whoopi Goldberg. In recent years, Maggie won over audiences again with her portrayal of Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter movie series, the equally witty Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey and the feature film Downton Abbey: A New Era.
Queen Elizabeth II honored Maggie with the title as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1990 and as a Companion of Honour in 2014. Maggie married actor Robert Stephens in 1967 and their sons, Toby and Chris, are also actors. The couple divorced in 1974 and Maggie later married Beverly Cross in 1975. Beverly, however, died of cancer in 1998.
Maggie herself has faced health struggles. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 and received treatment while continuing to film Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince.