She will always be an icon! Maggie Smith passed away at the age of 89 in news that broke on Friday, September 27, 2024.
Smith’s sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, said in a statement that Smith died early Friday in a London hospital. “She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother,” they said in a statement issued through publicist Clair Dobbs.
Related: Professor McGonagall’s Best Quotes Show Why We’re Going to Miss Maggie Smith So Much
Many millennial and Gen Z fans might know her as Professor McGonagall from the Harry Potter film series or even as Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey. But Smith has had a long and prolific career on stage and screen. She established herself as one of the biggest British actresses in theater alongside Judi Dench, working for the National Theater and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Throughtout her acting career she won, two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, four Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award, and garnered nominations for six Laurence Olivier Awards.
Maggie Smith as a young actress
Take a look at photos of Maggie Smith in her early career.
Maggie Smith with Lucy Rothenstein
Image Credit: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Maggie Smith with Lucy Rothenstein, the daughter of Tate Gallery director John Rothenstein.
Maggie Smith in 1957
Image Credit: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Maggie Smith posing with her hand on her hat on August 27 1957.
Maggie Smith in Nowhere to Go
Image Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images Maggie Smith and George Nader star in the film Nowhere To Go in 2958.
Maggie Smith at the 1958 Evening Standard Drama Awards
Image Credit: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Maggie Smith laughs while seated at a dining table sitting next to Sir Malcolm Sargent, Sir Michael Balcon, and Nigel Patrick.
Maggie Smith at the Evening Standards Drama Awards in 1960
Image Credit: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Maggie Smith holds a drink at the Evening Standards Drama Awards for 1959 in London, January 26, 1960.
Maggie Smith in What Every Woman Knows
Image Credit: Ray Green/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Donald Houston as John Shand, Wendy Williams as Lady Sybil Lazenby, and Maggie Smith as Maggie Wylie during a dress rehearsal for the play What Every Woman Knows by J. M. Barrie at the Old Vic in London, 11th April 1960.
Maggie Smith in London
Image Credit: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Maggie Smith posed in London, April 14 1960.
Maggie Smith at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards
Image Credit: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Maggie Smith at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards, London, 25th January 1962.
Maggie Smith wins Stage Actress of the Year
Image Credit: Evening Standard/Getty Images Maggie Smith was named Stage Actress of the Year by the Variety Club of Great Britain in the 1960s.
Maggie Smith with Michael Redgrave
Image Credit: Sydney O’Meara/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Michael Redgrave with Maggie Smith at the Evening Standard theatre awards at the Savoy Hotel, London on January 27, 1963.
Maggie Smith at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards
Image Credit: Len Trievnor/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Image Maggie Smith at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards, London, UK on January 29, 1963.
Maggie Smith in 1963
Image Credit: Stan Meagher/Express/Getty Images Maggie Smith poses in a photo from 1963.
Maggie Smith In Much Ado About Nothing
Image Credit: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Maggie Smith as Beatrice in the Shakespeare play Much Ado About Nothing staged by the National Theatre at the Old Vic in London, UK, on February 27, 1965.
Maggie Smith in Rehearsal
Image Credit: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Robert Stephens throws a stage punch at actress Maggie Smith, watched by theatre director John Dexter during a rehearsal for a National Theatre production on April 20, 1966.
Maggie Smith
Image Credit: Evening Standard/Getty Images) Maggie Smith and her ex-husband, Robert Stevens in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodiee in 1969.
Maggie Smith in a fur coat
Image Credit: Allan Jones/Evening Standard/Getty Images Maggie Smith wearing a fur coat as she poses for a portrait, in January 1969.
Maggie Smith on a bike
Image Credit: Evening Standard/Getty Images Maggie Smith riding a bike in February 1969.
Maggie Smith with her son
Image Credit: Ian Showell/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Maggie Smith at the Middlesex Hospital with Toby, her baby son with actor husband Robert Stephens taken on May 5, 1969.
Maggie Smith with her family
Image Credit: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Maggie Smith and Robert Stephens with their son Chris Larkin taken on 3rd March 1970.
Maggie Smith & Alan Alda
Image Credit: Getty Images Alan Alda and Maggie Smith having a drink in 1970.
Maggie Smith & Brooke Shields
Image Credit: Saxon/IMAGES/Getty Images Maggie Smith and Brooke Shields attend the 51st Academy Awards circa 1979 in Los Angeles, California.
Maggie Smith
Image Credit: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Image James Naughton, Maggie Smith, Tyne Daly, and Robert Morse attend the 44th Annual Tony Awards on June 3, 1990 at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City.
