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  • Farewell, Dame Maggie Smith – 70 Years On The Silver Screen

    Farewell, Dame Maggie Smith – 70 Years On The Silver Screen

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    On Friday, September 27, the death of Dame Maggie Smith was announced.

    I’m sure you know her as the caustic Professor Minerva McGonagall, famous for her stern manner with the young wizards at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter franchise.

    Check out Maggie Smith behind the scenes in Harry Potter:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkSdHpEfT-0– YouTubewww.youtube.com

    Others remember her as the Dowager Countess of Grantham from the hit series Downton Abbey. She portrayed Violet Crawley, the grand matriarch famous for her sharp one-liners throughout the show’s six seasons.

    Smith’s career spanned seven decades and ran the gamut from playing Desdemona to Laurence Olivier’s Othello at London’s National Theater to her Oscar-winning turn as Miss Jean Brodie to the Reverend Mother in two of Whoopi Goldberg’s Sister Act films.

    She also received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for California Suite (1978) and a Tony Award for Lettice and Lovage in 1990.

    Tributes have been rolling in since news of her death was made public, and she’s been remembered with great fondness by those who worked with her – some of whom also experienced her cutting wit and lack of patience for foolishness or mediocrity.

    Smith was 89 years old and died in a London hospital.

    This clip from 1969’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, the story of a Mussolini-admiring schoolteacher in 1930s Scotland, offers a fine glimpse of Smith in an Oscar-winning role early in her career:

    – YouTubewww.youtube.com

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  • Dame Maggie Smith, venerable British actress, dies at 89

    Dame Maggie Smith, venerable British actress, dies at 89

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    Maggie Smith, the venerable British actress whose career on stage, film and television spanned more than 60 years, has died. She was 89.

    Her sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, confirmed she had died in a statement to the Press Association.

    Having appeared in more than 50 films, Smith was considered one of Britain’s best known actresses and was beloved by recent generations for her roles as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the “Harry Potter” films and the Dowager Countess of Grantham on television’s “Downton Abbey.”

    Actress Dame Maggie Smith arrives at the Royal Film Performance and World Premiere of the film, “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”, in London Feb. 17, 2015.

    Peter Nicholls/Reuters

    British actress Dame Maggie Smith poses in London, Dec. 16, 2015.

    Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

    In addition to winning two Academy Awards, Smith earned five BAFTA Awards, four Emmy Awards, three Golden Globes, five Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Tony Award. In 1990, she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

    Born in Ilford, Essex, Smith moved with her family to Oxford when she was 4 years old. Her father, a public health pathologist, worked at Oxford University. Smith attended Oxford High School until age 16 when she left to study acting at the Oxford Playhouse.

    In 1952, she made her stage debut with the Oxford University Drama Society. A decade later, she was acting opposite Laurence Olivier and earning her first Oscar nomination for 1965’s “Othello.”

    English actress Maggie Smith with her son Chris Larkin, Apr. 21, 1970, in London.

    Hulton Archive/Getty Images

    Actress Dame Maggie Smith in the dressing room of The Old Vic, in London, Oct. 24, 1967.

    Pierre Manevy/Getty Images

    By 1970, she had won her first Oscar for “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.” Another followed in 1979 for “California Suite.”

    Smith appeared in a variety of films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including 1985’s “A Room with a View” and the 1993 comedy “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit” with Whoopi Goldberg. But she became a worldwide star in the autumn of her career after starring in the “Harry Potter” film franchise, which ran from 2001 to 2011.

    In 2010, she was cast as the witty Dowager Countess in “Downton Abbey,” earning her a slew of awards, including three Emmys and a Golden Globe.

    The actress battled and beat breast cancer while starring in the “Harry Potter” films.

    She welcomed two children, Larkin and Stephens, from her first marriage to actor Robert Stephens. Smith’s second husband, the playwright and screenwriter Beverley Cross, died in 1998.

    Smith is survived by her sons and five grandchildren.

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  • Actress Maggie Smith, known for ‘Harry Potter,’ ‘Downton Abbey,’ has died

    Actress Maggie Smith, known for ‘Harry Potter,’ ‘Downton Abbey,’ has died

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    LONDON — Maggie Smith, who won an Oscar for “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” in 1969 and won new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in “Downton Abbey,” has died, her publicist said Friday. She was 89.

    She was frequently rated the preeminent British actress of a generation which included Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench.

    RELATED: Tito Jackson, founding member of Jackson 5, dies at age 70

    “Jean Brodie” brought her the Academy Award for best actress and the British Academy (BAFTA) award as well in 1969. Smith added a supporting actress Oscar for “California Suite” in 1978.

    Copyright © 2024 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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