Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith
Biographical information
Birth name	Margaret Natalie Smith
Born	28 December 1934 Ilford, Essex, England, UK
Died	27 September 2024 (aged 89) London, England, UK
Nationality	British
Gender	Female
Eye colour	Blue
Hair colour	Brown
Height	5' 5"
Family	Robert Stephens (husband, 1967–1974, divorced) Beverley Cross (husband, 1975–1998, widowed) Chris Larkin (son) Toby Stephens (son) Anna-Louise Ploughman (daughter-in-law) Ian Smith (brother) Alistair Smith (brother)
Career
Years active	1952–2024
In Harry Potter	Minerva McGonagall
Other roles	A Room With a View (1985) The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987) Gosford Park (2001)
Academy Awards	The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) California Suite (1978)
Emmy Awards	My House in Umbria (2003) Downton Abbey (2011)
Tony Awards	Lettice and Lovage (1990)

Dame Margaret Natalie "Maggie" Smith (28 December 1934 – 27 September 2024) was an English actress, who played Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films.

In her career, Smith has won two Academy Awards out of her six nominations: Best Actress in a Leading Role in 1970 for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 1978 for California Suite. Additionally, she has won five BAFTAs, and one Tony Award for her stage work. For TV, she has won two Primetime Emmy Awards: Outstanding Lead Actress in Miniseries or a Movie for My House in Umbria, and Outstanding Supporting Actress in Miniseries or a Movie for Downton Abbey.

Biography

Maggie Smith's career began at the Oxford Playhouse in the 1950s. She made her film début in 1956 as one of the party guests in a film called Child in the House. After that she has been acting with the most prominent actors and actresses in the world in over sixty films and TV-series, including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), California Suite (1978) with Michael Caine and Jane Fonda, A Room with a View (1985), Hook (1991) with Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams and Julia Roberts, Sister Act and Sister Act II: Back In The Habit (1992–1993) with Whoopi Goldberg, Franco Zeffirelli's Tea with Mussolini (1999) with Judi Dench, Joan Plowright and Cher, and Gosford Park (2001) with Kristin Scott Thomas and Clive Owen, directed by Robert Altman.

Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall

In 2001, Maggie Smith made her appearance as the formidable Professor McGonagall for the first time in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. 2010 found her as a regular on the drama Downton Abbey (2010–2015) where she plays the Dowager Countess of Grantham. In 2011, she voiced the animated character of "Lady Bluebury" in Gnomeo & Juliet, and reprised the role in its 2018 sequel, Sherlock Gnomes.

Personal life

Maggie Smith was born in Ilford, Essex on 28 December 1934 to Margaret and Nathaniel Smith. Her father was pathology laboratory technician at Oxford University, and her mother worked as a secretary. She attended Oxford High School until the age of 16.

Smith has been married twice. First on 29 June 1967 to actor Robert Stephens and had two sons with him, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, both actors. She and Stephens divorced on 6 May 1974. On 23 August 1975, she married playwright Beverly Cross and the marriage ended with his death on 20 March 1998. Smith was, at the time, appearing in the play A Delicate Balance, but she continued until the end of the run.

In 2007, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, but struggled through the filming of the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince while undergoing the chemo treatments. In 2009, during the filming of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, she developed shingles (a painful skin rash caused by chicken pox), but still continued the film despite the pain.

On the morning of 27 September 2024 (UTC), Maggie Smith passed away peacefully at the age of 89 at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Her sons, Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin, released a statement saying, "It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith".

Her passing came exactly a year after Michael Gambon, the second actor to portray Professor Albus Dumbledore.

Selected filmography

Year	Work	Award	Category	Result
1958	Nowhere to Go	BAFTA Film	Most Promising Newcomer to Film	Nominated
1963	The V.I.P.s	Golden Globe	New Star of the Year – Actress	Nominated
1965	Othello	Academy	Best Supporting Actor	Nominated
		Golden Globe	Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama	Nominated
	Young Cassidy	BAFTA Film	Best British Actress	Nominated
1969	The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie	Academy	Best Actress	Won
		BAFTA Film	Best Actress	Won
		Golden Globe	Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama	Nominated
1972	Travels with My Aunt	Academy	Best Actress	Nominated
		Golden Globe	Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical	Nominated
1978	Death on the Nile	BAFTA Film	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Nominated
	California Suite	Academy	Best Supporting Actress	Won
		Golden Globe	Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical	Won
1979		BAFTA Film	Best Actress	Nominated
		Evening Standard British Film	Best Actress	Won
1981	Quartet	BAFTA Film	Best Actress	Nominated
		Evening Standard British Film	Best Actress	Won
	Clash of the Titans	Saturn	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
1984	A Private Function	BAFTA Film	Best Actress	Won
1986	A Room with a View	Academy	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
		BAFTA Film	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Won
		Golden Globe	Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture	Won
1988	The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne	BAFTA Film	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Won
		Evening Standard British Film	Best Actress	Won
1992	Sister Act	N/A
1993	The Secret Garden	BAFTA Film	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Nominated
	Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit	N/A
1999	Tea with Mussolini	BAFTA Film	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Won
2001	Gosford Park	Academy	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
		BAFTA Film	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Nominated
		Golden Globe	Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture	Nominated
		Satellite	Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical	Won
			Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble	Won
	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone	Saturn	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
2002	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets	N/A
2004	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2005	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2007	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2009	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2010	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
2011	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
2012	The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel	BIFA	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
	Quartet	Golden Globe	Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical	Nominated
2015	The Lady in the Van	BAFTA Film	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Nominated
		Evening Standard British Film	Best Actress	Won
		Golden Globe	Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical	Nominated
2019	Downton Abbey	N/A

Stage and TV

Year	Work	Award	Category	Result
1962	The Private Ear and The Public Eye	Evening Standard Theatre	Best Actress	Won
1970	Hedda Gabler		Best Actress	Won
1975	Private Lives	Tony	Best Actress in a Play	Nominated
1980	Night and Day	Tony	Best Actress in a Play	Nominated
1981	Virginia	Evening Standard Theatre	Best Actress	Won
		Olivier	Actress of the Year in a New Play	Nominated
1984	All for Love: "Mrs Silly"	BAFTA TV	Best Actress	Nominated
	The Way of the World	Evening Standard Theatre	Best Actress	Won
1985		Olivier	Comedy Performance of the Year	Nominated
1987	Lettice and Lovage	Olivier	Actress of the Year	Nominated
1990		Tony	Best Actress in a Play	Won
1989	Talking Heads: "A Bed Among the Lentils"	BAFTA TV	Best Actress	Nominated
1993	Screen Two: "Memento Mori"	BAFTA TV	Best Actress	Nominated
	Great Performances: "Suddenly, Last Summer"	Primetime Emmy	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Special	Nominated
1994	Three Tall Women	Evening Standard Theatre	Best Actress	Won
	The Importance of Being Earnest	Olivier	Best Comedy Performance	Nominated
1998	A Delicate Balance	Olivier	Best Actress	Nominated
2000	David Copperfield	BAFTA TV	Best Actress	Nominated
		Primetime Emmy	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie	Nominated
	The Lady in the Van	Olivier	Best Actress	Nominated
2003	My House in Umbria	Golden Globe	Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film	Nominated
		Primetime Emmy	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Special	Won
		Satellite	Best Actress in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for TV	Nominated
2010	Capturing Mary	Primetime Emmy	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Special	Nominated
2011	Downton Abbey	Golden Globe	Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Nominated
		Primetime Emmy	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie	Won
		Satellite	Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV	Nominated
2012		BAFTA TV	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
		Golden Globe	Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Won
		Satellite	Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV	Won
		Primetime Emmy	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series	Won
2013				Nominated
2014
2016				Won
2019	A German Life	Evening Standard Theatre	Best Actress	Won

Behind the scenes

Maggie Smith and Imelda Staunton

Maggie Smith and Imelda Staunton behind the scenes

• Maggie Smith has appeared in two projects with Dolores Umbridge actress Imelda Staunton: the 1999 TV miniseries David Copperfield and the 2019 film Downton Abbey.
  • The former also features Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Dawn French (Fat Lady), and Zoë Wanamaker (Rolanda Hooch).
• Smith has starred alongside several actors and actresses from the Harry Potter films in various projects:
  • Three films with Albus Dumbledore actor Michael Gambon:
    • The 1965 film Othello, which was Gambon's film début.
    • The 2001 film Gosford Park, which also features Kelly Macdonald (Helena Ravenclaw), and Stephen Fry (UK audiobook narrator).
    • The 2012 film Quartet
    • In addition to this, both Gambon and Smith died on the same day, one year apart.
  • Julie Christie (Rosmerta) in the 1965 film Young Cassidy.
  • Richard Griffiths (Vernon Dursley) in the 1984 film A Private Function.
  • Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange) in the 1985 film A Room with a View.
  • John Hurt (Garrick Ollivander) in the 1990 film Romeo.Juliet.
  • Zoë Wanamaker in the episode "Memento Mori" airing in 1992, from the TV anthology drama series Screen Two.
  • Three films with Horace Slughorn actor Jim Broadbent:
    • The 1995 film Richard III
    • The 2015 film The Lady in the Van, which also features Frances de la Tour (Olympe Maxime).
    • The 2021 film A Boy Called Christmas, which also features Toby Jones (Dobby's voice).
  • Three films with Molly Weasley actress Julie Walters:
    • The 2007 film Becoming Jane, which also features Helen McCrory (Narcissa Malfoy).
    • The 2011 film Gnomeo & Juliet
    • The 2018 film Sherlock Gnomes, which also features Johnny Depp (Younger Gellert Grindelwald).
  • Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew) in the 2009 film From Time to Time.
  • Emma Thompson (Sybill Trelawney), Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort), and Rhys Ifans (Xenophilius Lovegood) in the 2010 film Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang.
  • Bill Nighy in the 2011 film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and the 2015 film The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

External links

• Maggie Smith at the Internet Movie Database
• Maggie Smith on Wikipedia
• List of Maggie Smith performances on Wikipedia
• List of awards and nominations received by Maggie Smith on Wikipedia