A talent like the venerated Dame Maggie Smith is rare to come across, and it’s rarer to be able to see such craft carried out over the span of decades. An award-winning powerhouse of talent, she was known to many as an endless fountain of wit and authority through everything from some of the best movies of the 2000s, like the Harry Potter movies, to media spanning sagas like Downton Abbey. It is with that sterling legacy in mind that we fondly bid farewell to Ms. Smith, as she has been reported dead at the age of 89.
The BBC reported the sad news this morning, as sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin share with them the following statement:
It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith. She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27th September. 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. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their care and unstinting 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.
Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin - BBC
Born in 1934, the English actor would start her career on the stage, with a production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” when she was only 17. Through the years, she would make a name for herself acting against legends like Lawrence Olivier, and with contemporaries such as Derek Jacobi and Michael Gambon.
But in 1969, what could be considered one of the best Dame Maggie Smith movies arrived, as the titular teacher of controversy in the movie The Prime of Jean Brodie. She would take home the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1970, the first of two Oscars she’d win on her road to achieving the “Triple Crown of Acting.”
As the scene shown below from that same film will show, The Prime of Jean Brodie is a perfect example of Smith’s form and ferocity in the acting craft, which still circulates throughout the internet to this day:
That ferocity never dimmed in the later phases of Dame Maggie Smith’s career, as she would show the world in the blockbuster franchises she took part in. However, there was plenty of room for the softer side of her personality to shine, even when still maintaining her strict air of authority.
Arguably, this chapter could be said to have started in the popular consciousness through the role of Mother Superior in the Whoopi Goldberg comedy classic Sister Act. No moment better recognized that fact than Goldberg’s heartfelt plea to Dame Maggie Smith to be a part of the still in development Sister Act 3, early in 2023.
Which, of course, leads us to the two major roles that modern audiences think of when recalling Dame Maggie Smith. As Professor Minerva McGonagall, she shaped the young minds of the Wizarding World and forged them into crusaders for good in the Harry Potter series. It’s even more bittersweet to recognize that Smith’s passing just so happened to land on the same day as Michael Gambon’s death, with just a year separating the two, as the two had reunited for six of the eight entries in that watershed series.
And as Violet Crawley, Downton Abbey was never short of quips and comebacks, while also reminding us that the Dowager Countess always kept her family’s best wishes in her heart. Though even in reality, Dame Maggie Smith was sure to have the last word, as shown in a humorous Downton Abbey memory shared by co-star and frequent on-screen sparring partner Penelope Wilton.
It's fitting considering that Downton creator Julian Fellowes considered Smith's casting pivotal to the success of the series. That role was just the latest reminder of how Dame Maggie Smith commanded her craft, which only saw her co-stars eager to up their game to match her.
With a legacy that included charity, family, and warmth, we’re once more taught the lesson that a talent like Dame Maggie Smith is exceedingly rare to come by. The world won’t soon forget her legacy, whether it be on stage and screen, or in her more personal moments. CinemaBlend would like to extend its deepest condolences to her friends and family, as they navigate this time of grief and remembrance.
