PAActress Dame Maggie Smith, best known for the Harry Potter and Downton Abbey films, has died at the age of 89, her family said.
A legend of British stage and screen, she won two Academy Awards during her career – for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1970 and California Suite in 1979.
She has four other nominations and received eight Bafta awards.
In the Harry Potter films, Dame Maggie plays the harsh Professor Minerva McGonagall, famous for her pointed witch hat and strict treatment of young witches at Hogwarts.
In ITV’s hit drama Downton Abbey, she plays Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, the great matriarch who excelled at withering one-liners in six series of programme.
A statement from her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin said: “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith.
“She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday September 27. A very private person, she was finally surrounded by friends and family. She leaves behind two children son and five loving grandchildren are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.” .
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful staff at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their endless care and 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.”
PAHer co-stars also expressed their gratitude.
Hugh Bonneville, who appeared in Downton Abbey, said: “Anyone who has shared a scene with Maggie will attest to her keen eye, sharp intelligence and formidable talent.
“She was a true legend of her generation and will thankfully live on in so many great performances on screen. My condolences to her boys and extended family .”
Some of her other most memorable roles include Merchant Ivory’s 1985 film A Room With a View, in which she played chaperone Charlotte Barlett, accompanying Helen Bonham Carter’s Lucy Honeychurch to Italy.
This role earned her Oscar and Golden Globe nominations.
Her career began in theatre, but she won her first Bafta nomination for the 1958 tragicomedy, Nowhere to Go.
By 1963, she was offered the role of Desdemona by Laurence Olivier, opposite his Othello, at the National Theatre, and two years later it was made into a film with the original cast, for which Smith was nominated for an Oscar. .
