British actress Maggie Smith, legend of theater and cinema, has died at the age of 89, her two sons announced to CBS News on Friday. “She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning,” said her sons Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens. “She was a very private person, but she was with her friends and family at the end of her life. She leaves two loving sons and five grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother,” they added.
From “Sister Act” to “Harry Potter” to “Room with a View”
Her career has been marked by the eclecticism of roles and genres: from the mother superior alongside Whoopi Goldberg in “Sister Act” (1992) to the “transformation” teacher in the Harry Potter saga films, among others. by the neurotic chaperone in “Room with a View” (1986) or the old homeless lady in “The Lady in the Van” (2015).
Then Downton Abbey which changed her life, making her an international celebrity.
During her long career, she has won two Oscars, six Baftas (including an honorary one), four Emmy Awards, for a total of 108 nominations across all awards.
A brilliant career in theater
Born on December 28, 1934 in Ilford (south-east of England), Margaret Smith began on the stage of the Oxford Playhouse in the early 1950s. She then joined the troupe of the London theater of the Old Vic and then that of the Royal National Theater where she had a string of successes, alongside her husband, the actor Robert Stephens. His film career took off in the 1960s.
One of Britain’s best-known and most celebrated artists, Maggie Smith was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1990 and a Companion of Honor in 2014, for services to the country in the arts.
She had been married twice, and had her two sons, also actors, with the comedian Robert Stephens.
