Dame Maggie Smith, widely recognized worldwide for her role as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter franchise, died on Friday, September 27th at age 89. The multi-award-winning actress’s passing was confirmed by her sons Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens in a statement. According to her sons, “She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27 September.”
The statement put out by her sons said she was “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.
They added, “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.” They concluded by saying: “We thank you for all your kind messages and support and ask that you respect our privacy at this time.”
Maggie Smith had a legendary career
Although she is most commonly known for her role as Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies, Maggie Smith had a truly legendary acting career. She also showed her comedy chops in roles like Jean Brodie, for which she won an Oscar, and more dramatic skills in productions such as A Room With a View, Gosford Park, and Downton Abbey.
Smith has also spoken about her career. In a 2004 interview with The Guardian, Smith stated that her career was checkered and she thought she got “pigeonholed in humor…If you do comedy, you kind of don’t count. Comedy is never considered the real thing.”
Most notably, she performed in dramatic theater roles alongside Laurence Olivier for the national theatre and even went on to win the Best Actress Bafta for The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne and for her role in Hedda Gabler in 1970.
Smith’s life always centered around acting
Maggie Smith was born in 1934 and grew up in Oxford, where she began acting at the city’s playhouse theater as a teenager. Smith made her first appearances in theater in the 1957 musical comedy Share My Lettuce. It was this that landed her first role on the silver screen featuring in the Seth Holt movie Nowhere to Go.
She was so good that her first movie role earned her a nomination for Best Supporting Actress from Bafta. Following her roles in other plays, she was then invited to join the National Theatre Company in 1962, which eventually led to her appearances in countless productions.
The year 1969 was a legendary one for Smith, as she was cast in the lead role of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, for which she earned her Oscar in 1970. She continued to have a successful career in both the movie and theater industry. Her final two roles were in two standalone Downton Abbey films in 2019 and 2022.
