Dame Maggie Smith, the two-time Oscar-winning actor best known for playing Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter movie franchise and the Dowager Countess on Downton Abbey, died Friday, her publicist and children confirmed. She was 89.
Smith had one of the most accomplished careers of any actor in the world. Born in 1934, she began her career on stage at just 17, performing in a 1952 production of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Smith’s illustrious career included numerous interpretations of Shakespeare’s works, including the 1965 film version of Othello. She went on to star in many acclaimed and beloved movies, winning her first Academy Award in 1970 for her performance in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and her second in 1979 for California Suite.
Here’s everything we know so far regarding the circumstances of Smith’s death.
Maggie Smith’s Cause of Death
Smith’s cause of death is not yet known at the time of publication. In their statement, Maggie’s sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, confirmed that she passed away “peacefully in hospital” on September 27, 2024.
“She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother,” the sons said in a statement issued through publicist Clair Dobbs.
Maggie Smith’s Health
In 2009, Smith revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer after discovering a lump in 2008, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. The actress expressed that learning she had cancer in her 70s “knocks you sideways.” She shared her fears upon the diagnosis, stating, “It kind of takes the wind out of your sails, and I don’t know what the future holds, if anything. I don’t think there’s a lot of it, because of my age — there just isn’t. It’s all been. I’ve no idea what there will be.”
Smith also battled Graves’ disease, an autoimmune condition that affects the thyroid gland, in 1988, but she recovered after undergoing radiotherapy and surgery.
Maggie Smith’s Family Life
The London native married her first husband, fellow English actor Sir Robert Stephens, on June 29, 1967. They had two sons together and split in 1973. Following years of ill health, he died in 1995 at the age of 64 due to complications during surgery.
Smith’s eldest son, Chris, born in 1967, has two children with his wife, Suki Stephens: Daisy Grace Stephens and Nathaniel Stephens. Her second son, Toby, born in 1969, has three kids with his wife, Anna-Louise Plowman: a son, Elijah Alistair Stephens, born in 2007, and two daughters, Tallulah Tara and Kura Stephens, born in 2009 and 2010, respectively.