Dame Maggie Smith, celebrated for her roles in Harry Potter and Downton Abbey, has passed away at the age of 89, reports BBC.
A renowned figure in British theatre and film, she won two Academy Awards during her career — for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1970 and California Suite in 1979.
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She also received four other Oscar nominations and eight BAFTA awards.
A statement from her sons, Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin, announced, “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith. She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27th September.”
They expressed their family’s grief and gratitude for the hospital staff’s care.
Tribute was quick to come in. Hugh Bonneville, a co-star in Downton Abbey, described her as a “true legend of her generation” whose work would continue to inspire.
Some of Smith’s most memorable roles include the 1985 Merchant Ivory film A Room With a View, where she played the chaperone Charlotte Barlett. This role earned her Oscar and Golden Globe nominations.
Her career began in theatre, and she gained her first BAFTA nomination in the 1958 melodrama, Nowhere to Go. By 1963, she was offered the part of Desdemona by Laurence Olivier, to star opposite his Othello, at the National Theatre.
Two years later, this performance was adapted into a film, with Smith receiving another Oscar nomination.
For lovers of trivia, Smith’s son Toby Stephens played commanding officer William Gordon, in Aamir Khan’s Mangal Pandey: The Rising.
