LONDON: Award winning veteran British actress Maggie Smith has died at the age of 89, western media reported on Friday.
She was one of the few actors to win two Oscars, Four Emmy and Tony. Though the late actress started her career on the stage in the 1950, for many younger fans in the 21st century, she was best-known as Professor McGonagall in all seven “Harry Potter” movies, and the Dowager Countess in the hit TV series of “Downton Abbey,”.
“It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith,” BBC quoted her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin as saying.
The multiple Oscars winner gained a huge following in Britain and the United States after ‘Downton Abbey’ first aired as a television series in 2010. It went on for six seasons and was followed by two movies, released in 2019 and 2022.
She grabbed two Emmy awards and was nominated for two more for her role as the Dowager Countess in the popular series.
The Hollywood star was also named Dame Commander of the British Empire In 1990, alongside fellow actors Judi Dench and Diana Rigg.
She was Born in Ilford Essex, and attended the Oxford School for Girls before studying theater at the Oxford Playhouse School. The actress married with actor Robert Stephens in 1967. Her second marriage was with writer Beverly Cross in 1976 who passed away in 1998.
Smith has two sons, actors Christopher Larkin and Toby Stephens.
