Dame Maggie Smith, the British screen and stage actress best known for her roles in the Harry Potter franchise and on Downton Abbey, died Sept. 27 at the age of 89.
In her storied career, which began at the Oxford Playhouse when she was 17, the late actress won two Academy Awards, one Tony Award, four Emmy Awards, three Golden Globes, five Screen Actors Guild Awards and five BAFTA Awards. She received her “Dame” title in 1990 from Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions as an actor.
Smith’s career in entertainment was one of impressive longevity, especially for an actress because we’ve heard time and again how roles dry up for women at a certain age. After establishing herself as a stage actress in the U.K., she conquered Hollywood, winning Oscars in 1970 (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie) and 1979 (California Suite) and getting nominated four more times between 1966 (Othello) and 2002 (Gosford Park).
But true superstardom was yet to come, a result of her portrayal of Professor Minerva McGonagall, the steely, spell-casting (“piertotum locomotor!”) head of Gryffindor house.
Smith was 67 the year the first Harry Potter film was released in 2001 and appeared in seven of the eight blockbuster films from the franchise through 2011. With Potter-mania being what it was — and still is — the role gave her global recognition. An entire new generation was introduced to her work. In her 70s, she became a wand-waving rock star.
Smith was in her late 60s when the first “Harry Potter” film debuted. (Warner Bros. Entertainment/Courtesy Everett Collection)
After that, unbelievably, Smith landed another career-elevating role as Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey, the British period drama which ran from 2010 to 2015. The Dowager Countess of Grantham — the upper-crust matriarch of the dysfunctional family — was the queen of stinging one-liners delivered with a unforgettable scowl.
Her role launched her into the social media stratosphere in her late 70s. Using images of her in character, countless memes have been created in the spirit of something Violet might say. Think: “Young man, I have no desire to ‘Netflix and chill.’”
Smith appeared in the TV franchise’s first two feature films: Downton Abbey (2019) and Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022). While a third film is in the works, the second ended with the death of her character.
‘Nobody knew who the hell I was’ until ‘Downton,’ she said
In Smith’s reflections on her career, she spoke about how Downton Abbey changed everything as far as public recognition and her fame.
“I led a perfectly normal life until Downton Abbey,” she told the British Film Institute in 2017. “I’m not kidding. I’d go to theaters, I’d go to galleries … on my own — and now I can’t.”
“Downton Abbey” brought Smith a level of stardom she hadn’t experienced before. (Nick Briggs/Carnival Films for Masterpiece/PBS/Courtesy Everett Collection)
She said, “It’s truly television. I’ve been working around for a very long time before Downton Abbey. Life was fine. Nobody knew who the hell I was. It has changed.”
Smith told NPR in 2016 that she found it “very odd to be recognized. I’ve spent a very long time without that happening to me. And it’s a very, very strange sensation.”
She allowed that sometimes it was “very nice,” but “sometimes you just would like … to do things on your own without thinking about whether you’re going to be stalked or asked to pose for one of those wretched cellphone things.”
That’s because, unlike Potter, which everyone anticipated would be a hit franchise, Downton Abbey’s success “took everybody by surprise,” Smith told NPR.
She attributed the popularity of her character Violet to show creator/co-writer Julian Fellowes’s lines, she said in the same interview.
“She stuck to her principles in the way she had lived,” Smith said of her character. “She could see what was going on more than a lot of other people. She was a wise old bird. She’d been there and done that and got the T-shirt.”
Smith with one of her two Oscars. (Reed Saxon/AP)
As for Smith’s own career longevity, she attributed it to being a character actor versus the young vixen early on.
“God knows it must be lovely to be beautiful, but that’s a really difficult thing to lose,” she told NPR. “But if you’ve been into character acting really all your life, it’s an easy transition. You just go from one to the other and you suddenly realize, ‘Oh, I see I’m somebody’s mother this time. And I’m somebody’s grandmother.’”
Smith’s family announced her death
On Sept. 27, Smith’s sons, Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin, confirmed her death.
“It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith,” said the statement from her family through publicist Clair Dobbs.
“She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning,” it continued. “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 thanked the staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital “for their care and unstinting kindness during her final days.”
In the wake of the news, Smith’s Downton Abbey co-stars have led the tributes.
Hugh Bonneville, who played her son, called her “a true legend of her generation.” Michelle Dockery, who played her granddaughter Lady Mary Crawley, said, “There was no one quite like Maggie. I feel tremendously lucky to have known such a maverick. She will be deeply missed and my thoughts are with her family.”
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