Remembering Actress Dame Maggie Smith

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PBS

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Acclaimed British actress Dame Maggie Smith died on September 27, 2024. Smith was 89 years old.

Born in 1934 in Ilford, England, Smith grew up in Oxford, England, and made her stage debut in a local theater as a teenager. Smith went on to a have an unparalleled career that earned her Oscar, Tony, Golden Globe awards and more. Smith won 3 Emmy awards for her role as Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey.

Smith was well known for an array of celebrated projects across stage, television and film, including her Oscar-winning performances in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and California Suite, roles in Gosford Park, A Room with a View, Tea with Mussolini, the Harry Potter films, and Downton Abbey, among many others.

In 1990, Smith was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin released a statement which read: “It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith.

“She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27th September. 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.

“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.

“We thank you for all your kind messages and support and ask that you respect our privacy at this time.”

Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes wrote in a statement, “Maggie Smith was a truly great actress and we were more than fortunate to be part of the last act in her stellar career. She was a joy to write for, subtle, many-layered, intelligent, funny and heart-breaking. Working with her has been the greatest privilege of my career, and I will never forget her.”

Hugh Bonneville, Lord Grantham in Downton Abbey, offered a statement saying, “She was a true legend of her generation and thankfully will live on in so many magnificent screen performances. My condolences to her boys and wider family.”

Michelle Dockery, who played Lady Mary Crowley, told Deadline in a statement: “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.”

Allen Leech, Tom Branson in Downton Abbey, told People, “Maggie was a master of the craft and a delight to be around. As a world audience we have lost one of the greatest, my condolences to her sons and grandchildren, her family and dearest and closest friends. It was an honor to know and work with a true legend of the screen.”

Joanne Froggatt who portrayed Anna Bates in the series posted on Instagram in part, “She truly was a trailblazer, with the sharpest wit, the greatest talent, the naughtiest sense of humour, she was a force to be reckoned with. She had a charisma that you felt would live forever (in many ways it will) and underneath all of that a huge heart.”

Susanne Simpson, MASTERPIECE Executive Producer, said, “The entire MASTERPIECE and PBS family are terribly sad to hear the news of Maggie Smith’s death. She was an icon and will be deeply missed by us personally, and by our audience who came to love her in Downton Abbey. She will be remembered by all of us for decades of memorable performances.”

View a slideshow featuring some highlights of Smith’s career.

View Gallery11 Photos

Maggie Smith from the archives of Press Portrait Service. Credit: David Cole.

Queen Elizabeth II being presented to Dame Maggie Smith by Sir Laurence Olivier in 1986. Credit: PA Images. Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, 1969. Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd. Smith in 1970 with her first husband Robert Stephens celebrating her Oscar winning award for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Credit: Trinity Mirror / Mirrorpix. Joan Plowright (Lady Wishfort), Maggie Smith (Mrs Millament) in The Way of the World by William Congreve at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London, 1984. Credit: Donald Cooper. Dame Maggie Smith and Dame Judi Dench in a scene from 1986’s A Room with a View. Credit: TCD/Prod.DB Actors Maggie Smith, Miriam Margolyes, Richard Harris and Alan Rickman starring as Minerva MacGonagall, Professor Sprout, Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape in the movie “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” 2002. Credit: PA Images. Dame Maggie Smith (left) and Dame Judi Dench arrive for a screening of Ladies in Lavender at the Odeon Leicester Square London, 2004. Credit: PA images. Then Prince of Wales with Dame Maggie Smith at the Prince’s Trust reception at the 2016 Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards. Credit: PA Images. Joanne Froggatt (left), Michelle Dockery (center) and Dame Maggie Smith attending the Downton Abbey cast photocall from August 2015 held at the Mayfair Hotel, London. Credit: Ian West/PA Wire. Smith as the indomitable Dowager Countess, Violet Crawley, in Downton Abbey. Credit: PictureLux.