LONDON: Maggie Smith, the masterful, scene-stealing actor who won an Oscar for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969 and gained new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, died on Friday. She was 89.
Smith's sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, said in a statement that Smith died early Friday in a London hospital.
“She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother,” they said in a statement issued through publicist Clair Dobbs.
Smith was frequently rated the preeminent British woman actor of a generation that included Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench.
Jean Brodie brought her the Academy Award for best actress and the British Academy (BAFTA) award as well in 1969. She added a supporting actress Oscar for California Suite in 1978.
She was also nominated for four other Oscars — for her work as best actress in Travels With My Aunt (1972) and for supporting turns in Othello (1965), A Room With a View (1985) and Gosford Park (2001).
In 1989, Queen Elizabeth II bestowed Smith with the title of “dame” for her dramatic accomplishments. The queen granted her another distinction in 2014, making her the 47th member of the Order of Companions of Honor, in the company of such other recipients as Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Judi Dench.
She also won a best actress Tony Award in 1990 for her performance in the comedy Lettice and Lovage.
Smith’s prodigious talent enabled her to play roles from tragedy to comedy with equal facility, thus earning her a perennial spot on the lists of top British actresses.
Her flair for humor, going to core of the characters’ neuroses and idiosyncrasies, as well as for drama, plumbing the depths of their fears and demons, resulted in wide-ranging performances.
(With inputs from Online Desk)