British actress Dame Maggie Smith, known for her prolific career in roles like Professor McGonagall in the “Harry Potter” series and Violet Crawley in “Downton Abbey,” has died, her family confirmed to CBS News. She was 89.
Smith passed away peacefully in the hospital early Friday morning, her sons Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens said in a statement via publicist Clair Dobbs.
“An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end. She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother,” the statement said.
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Smith, who was frequently rated the preeminent British actress of a generation that included Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench, was born in Essex on Dec. 28, 1934. When she was 4 years old, her family moved to Oxford, where Smith began studying acting at the Oxford Playhouse at the age of 16.
In 1952, at 17 years old, Smith launched her illustrious career as Viola in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.” She made her Broadway debut in 1956 playing several roles in the review “New Faces of ’56.”
While Smith made her first film appearance in 1956, she didn’t receive her first screen credit until 1959’s “Nowhere to Go,” which earned her first of 18 British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) nominations.
“The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” brought her the Academy Award for best actress and the BAFTA award as well in 1969. She added a supporting actress Oscar for “California Suite” in 1978.
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