Maggie Smith, beloved ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Downton Abbey’ actor, dies at 89
Two-time Oscar winner Maggie Smith, the celebrated stage actress who starred in “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and burnished her long-shining star by playing the scene-stealing dowager countess of “Downton Abbey” and the exacting Professor McGonagall in the “Harry Potter” franchise, has died. She was 89. The respected English dame died early Friday in a London hospital, her sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, told the Associated Press. “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. Dobbs did not immediately respond Friday to The Times’ request for comment. Smith had suffered from glaucoma, breast cancer and underwent hip-replacement surgery in her 80s. During a career that spanned six decades, Smith acquired a large following on both sides of the Atlantic and became one of few to achieve the triple crown of acting — winning Academy, Emmy and Tony awards. She earned her Oscars playing the unconventional schoolmarm in “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and a brittle movie star in “California Suite”
