Dame Maggie Smith died early on Friday, 27 September 2024, at the age of 89. Her sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, said she “passed away peacefully in hospital” and that she was with friends and family at the end. “An intensely private person,” they called her.
She was born Margaret Natalie Smith in Ilford, London, on 28 December 1934. She began acting in the 1950s, on stage, and took the name Maggie to set herself apart from another actress with the same name.
Recognition came early. Smith earned an Academy Award nomination for Othello in 1965. She won her first Oscar, for Best Actress, with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969, and a second, for Best Supporting Actress, with California Suite in 1978.
Her Tony Award came in 1990 for Lettice and Lovage. With two Oscars, four Emmys and that Tony, she completed the rare “triple crown” of acting. The same year she was made a Dame for her contributions to the arts.
Younger audiences knew her from two roles. She played Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter films and the formidable Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey.
Her family statement thanked the staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their care and “unstinting kindness during her final days.” It asked the public to respect the family’s privacy. She leaves two sons and five grandchildren, and both sons became actors like their mother.
