'Harry Potter,' 'Downton Abbey' star Maggie Smith passes away
Dame Maggie Smith best known for her roles in the Harry Potter films and Downton Abbey, has died, according to her family. She was 89 years old. "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," her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin said in a statement.
Smith won an Oscar in 1969
With a career in acting spanning over 50 years, Smith won an Oscar for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" in 1969. Smith won an Oscar again in 1978 for best supporting actress in "California Suite." She rose to prominence among younger audiences as the severe yet fair witchcraft teacher Minerva McGonagall in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," and subsequent "Harry Potter" sequels.
She was born in 1934
Smith was born in 1934 and grew up in Oxford, where she started performing at the city's Playhouse theater. While appearing in a string of stage shows, including the 1957 Share My Lettuce, Smith also made inroads into film. Her big break came in the 1958 thriller Nowhere to Go, for which she received the first of 18 Bafta nominations—eight of which she won.
Smith was married twice
Smith was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1990, and she was thereafter referred to as Dame Maggie Smith. Smith was married twice: first to actor Robert Stephens, whom she divorced in 1974, and then to playwright Beverley Cross from 1975 until his death in 1998. She is survived by her two sons.
