Maggie Smith in 2019’s ‘Downton Abbey’. Photo: Universal Pictures.
Preview:
- Actor Maggie Smith has died at the age of 89.
- She earned a swathe of fans from different generations thanks to her varied career.
- She’ll be best remembered in recent times for her roles in ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘Harry Potter.’
Dame Maggie Smith, one of the best actors of her or any other generation, and whose career spanned decades, genres and mediums, has died. She was 89.
With two Oscars, three Emmys, three Golden Globes, five SAG Awards, four BAFTA awards and a Tony to her name, Smith became synonymous with imperious authority figures later in her career –– though never losing the mischievous twinkle in her eye –– and was a much-admired figure both in the acting community and across the world. At the height of her powers, she could steal scenes from nearly anyone, dominating any stage or screen she appeared on.
As often in her roles, Smith could be famously blunt in real life, but always tempered herself with grace and humor.
This is how she described her attitude to British newspaper The Guardian:
“Every time I start anything, I think, ‘This time I’m going to be like Jude [Dench], and it will all be lovely, it will be merry and bright,’ the Quaker will come out in me. It’s gone too far now to take back. If I suddenly came on like Pollyanna, it wouldn’t work — it would frighten people more if I were nice. They’d be paralyzed with fear. And wonder what I was up to.” Despite that belief, she was absolutely beloved by audiences.
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Dame Maggie Smith: Early Life and Career
Maggie Smith in ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Margaret Smith was born in Ilford, Essex in 1934, and attended the Oxford School for Girls before studying theater at the Oxford Playhouse School. As a teenager, she began treading the boards, building her name as an accomplished classical actor even at that young age, appearing alongside the likes of Laurence Olivier.
Her work saw her travel to London’s West End with the revue ‘On the Fringe,’ where American producer Leonard Sillman saw her and asked her to join the Broadway variety show ‘New Faces of 1956’ (she was the only British actor in the cast). She would go on to a hugely successful theatre career that would encompass the likes of 1990 comedy ‘Lettice and Lovage,’ for which she won her Tony.
In 1990, she was named Dame Commander of the British Empire, one of only a handful of her generation, including Judi Dench and Diana Rigg, to be so honored.
Dame Maggie Smith: Film Work
Maggie Smith in ‘The Lady in the Van’. Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing.
To say Smith’s film career was eclectic is the redefine the word. Some of her earlier roles were adapted from stage work she had done –– such as 1969’s ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’, which scored Smith her first Oscar. A second would follow for 1978’s ‘California Suite.’
She was adept at both drama and comedy, and often able to blend them. Other memorable roles included ‘Hook,’ the two ‘Sister Act’ movies, ‘Murder by Death,’ ‘The Lady in the Van,’ ‘Death on the Nile,’ ‘Evil Under the Sun,’ ‘The Missionary,’ ‘A Private Function,’ ‘Gosford Park,’ ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,’ ‘Othello’ and many more.
To an entire generation of fans who grew up with the books and the movies, though, she’s forever cemented as the occasionally haughty but always sympathetic Professor Minerva McGonagall, the Hogwarts School’s stern yet fearless transfiguration teacher (and head of Gryffindor house) in the ‘Harry Potter‘ movies.
Dame Maggie Smith: TV Work
(L to R) Michelle Dockery and Maggie Smith in ‘Downton Abbey’. Photo: ITV.
If beyond ‘Potter’ there is surely one focal point for Smith’s career in the last decade or so, it is ‘Downton Abbey,’ where she played the endlessly quotable Violet Crawley, the dowager countess. The series itself ran for five years and then spawned two films.
It changed the course of her life, making her hugely recognizable after a successful career that had previously allowed her to walk unbothered through public streets.
Here’s what she told interviewer Mark Lawson at the BFI/Radio Times festival in 2017:
“It’s ridiculous. I’d led a perfectly normal life until ‘Downton Abbey.’ Nobody knew who the hell I was!”
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6 SeasonsSeptember 26th, 2010
Dame Maggie Smith: Friends, Family and Colleagues Pay Tribute
(L to R) Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton, Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith in ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’. Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Smith was married to Robert Stephens between 1967 and 1974. She later wed Beverley Cross in 1975 and remained his wife until his death in 1998. Her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin both followed her into the acting profession.
Smith’s death was announced by her sons:
“It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith. 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. She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their care and unstinting kindness during her final days. We thank you for all your kind messages and support and ask that you respect our privacy at this time.”
Hugh Bonneville, her ‘Downton Abbey’ co-star, paid his own tribute:
“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. My condolences to her boys and wider family.”
And Whoopi Goldberg, who shared the screen with Smith in the ‘Sister Act’ movies, shared her own memory via Instagram:
Maggie Smith in ‘Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang’. Photo: Universal Pictures.
List of Maggie Smith Movies and TV Shows:
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