Dame Maggie Smith, beloved for her portrayal of Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter series and Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey, has passed away at the age of 89. Her sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, confirmed that she "passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27th September."

A distinguished actress on stage and screen, Smith won an Academy Award for Best Actress for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1970 and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for California Suite in 1979. Her impressive accolades also include three Golden Globes, eight BAFTA Film Awards, and one Tony Award.

Born in 1934 in Ilford and raised in Oxford, Smith began her acting career at the Playhouse Theatre, making her stage debut in Twelfth Night. She earned her first BAFTA nomination for the 1958 thriller Nowhere to Go, followed by her first Academy Award nomination in 1965 for her role as Desdemona opposite Laurence Olivier’s Othello.

In the 1980s, Smith thrived in both film and theatre, garnering an Oscar nomination for A Room With a View and starring in notable films like Tea With Mussolini, Gosford Park, and Ladies in Lavender. She played Minerva McGonagall from 2001 to 2011 in nearly all Harry Potter films and became widely recognized as the Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey, a role she reprised in two films released in 2019 and 2022.