‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘Harry Potter’ star, Maggie Smith dead at 89

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Maggie Smith, beloved ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘Harry Potter’ star, dead at 89

Maggie Smith, 

the acclaimed and versatile actress hailed by her peers as “one-of-a-kind” with a “sharp eye, sharp wit, and formidable talent,” has passed away at the age of 89.

Her remarkable career spanned iconic roles in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Harry Potter, and Downton Abbey, earning her global acclaim, including two Oscars and eight BAFTAs.

The announcement was made by her sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, who shared: “She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday, September 27.

“An intensely private individual, 

she was surrounded by friends and family in her final moments. She leaves behind two sons and five loving grandchildren who are heartbroken by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.

“We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the wonderful staff at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their exceptional care and kindness during her last days.”

"Downton Abbey" would be much less entertaining without the cutting Dowager Countess, played by Maggie Smith. Everett Collection

Smith was born in 1934 in Ilford, a middle-class suburb of East London. Just before World War II, her family relocated to Oxford, where her father worked as a pathologist at Oxford University.

After graduating from high school, Smith studied at the Oxford Playhouse School from 1951 to 1953, making her stage debut in a production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” with the Oxford University Dramatic Society.

She made her Broadway debut in “New Faces of 1956” and later starred in the London revue “Share My Lettuce” from 1957 to 1958. Soon after, she began appearing regularly at The Old Vic theater in London.

In 1964, she portrayed Desdemona opposite Olivier’s Othello and reprised the role in the film adaptation the following year. Smith won her first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1969 for her role as an unconventional schoolteacher in “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.”

In 1978, she received her second Academy Award, this time for Best Supporting Actress, for her performance in Neil Simon’s “California Suite.” Smith has also garnered British Academy Film Awards for her work, including her roles in “A Room with a View” (1985) and “The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne” (1987).