Acting Legend Dame Maggie Smith Dies at 89

Dame Maggie Smith, known for her roles on “Downton Abbey” and the “Harry Potter” series, has died. She was 89. Smith’s sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, said released a statement announcing that Smith died early…

Sandra RhodesSep 27, 20243 min read

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Regarding her later roles, Smith quipped, “When you get into the granny era, you’re lucky to get anything.”

When asked why she took the role of Professor McGonagall, she replied, “Harry Potter is my pension.”

Director Richard Eyre said Smith was “intellectually the smartest actress I’ve ever worked with. You have to get up very, very early in the morning to outwit Maggie Smith.”

In addition to her Oscar and BAFTA for “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” she won a litany of awards, including a supporting actress Oscar for “California Suite” in 1978, Golden Globes for “California Suite” and “Room with a View,” and BAFTAs for lead actress in “A Private Function” in 1984, “A Room with a View” in 1986, and “The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne” in 1988.

She won a Tony in 1990 for “Lettice and Lovage.”

Her garnered three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for her role in “Downton Abbey,” a part that started in 2010.

Despite her accolades, Smith was reputed to be hard to work with and was a scene stealer.

According to Richard Burton, Smith didn’t just take over a scene, “She commits grand larceny.”

But director Peter Hall didn’t view Smith as difficult.

He said Smith wasn’t “remotely difficult unless she’s among idiots. She’s very hard on herself, and I don’t think she sees any reason why she shouldn’t be hard on other people, too.”

And the actress acknowledged she could be difficult.

“It’s true I don’t tolerate fools, but then they don’t tolerate me, so I am spiky,” Smith said. “Maybe that’s why I’m quite good at playing spiky elderly ladies.”

Many posted on X, formerly Twitter, about Smith’s passing.

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