Dame Margaret Natalie "Maggie" Smith was an English film, stage, and television actress who is one of England's most recognizable actresses and has appeared in over 50 films, including Nowhere to Go, Othello, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Murder by Death, Death on the Nile, Clash of the Titans, A Room with a View, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, Hook, Gosford Park, and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. She is also well known for her role as Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter film series and as Violet Crawley on the English period drama series Downton Abbey.
Early life and education[]
Margaret Natalie Smith was born on 28 December 1934 in Ilford, Essex. Her mother, Margaret Hutton (née Little), was a Scottish secretary from Glasgow, and her father, Nathaniel Smith, was a public-health pathologist from Newcastle upon Tyne, who worked at the University of Oxford. The family moved to Oxford when Smith was four years old. She had older twin brothers, Alistair and Ian. The latter went to architecture school. Smith was educated at Oxford High School until the age of 16, when she left to study acting at the Oxford Playhouse.
Personal life[]
Smith married actor Robert Stephens on 29 June 1967. They had two sons, actors Chris Larkin (b. 1967) and Toby Stephens (b. 1969), and were divorced on 6 April 1975. She married playwright Beverley Cross on 23 June 1975, at the Guildford Register Office, and they remained married until his death on 20 March 1998. When asked in 2013 if she was lonely, she replied, "it seems a bit pointless, going no one's own, and not having someone to share it with". Smith had five grandchildren.
In January 1988, Smith was diagnosed with Graves' disease, for which she underwent radiotherapy and optical surgery. In 2007 The Sunday Telegraph disclosed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. In 2009 she was reported to have made a full recovery.
In 2016, Smith told NPR that as a character actor, rather than a "dish", she was able to age into roles as mothers and grandmothers while still developing her talents instead of losing them. The interviewer noted that Smith had, in fact, been called "an undeniable dish" by a reviewer while starring on Broadway in the 1960s.
Charity work[]
In September 2011, Smith offered her support for raising the NZ$4.6 million needed to help rebuild the Court Theatre in Christchurch, New Zealand, after the earthquake in 2011 that caused severe damage to the area. In July 2012, she became a patron of the International Glaucoma Association (now known as Glaucoma UK), hoping to support the organisation and raise the profile of glaucoma. She was also a patron of the Oxford Playhouse, where she first began her career. Smith was a vice-president of the Chichester Cinema at New Park and a vice-president of the Royal Theatrical Fund, which provides support for members of the entertainment profession who are unable to work due to illness, injury or infirmity.
On 27 November 2012, Smith contributed a drawing of her own hand to the 2012 Celebrity Paw Auction, to raise funds for Cats Protection. In May 2013, Smith contributed a gnome which she had decorated, for an auction to raise money for the Royal Horticultural Society Campaign for School Gardening.
In November 2020, Smith joined Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi and Ian McKellen for a conversation on Zoom entitled For One Knight Only, for the charity Acting for Others. Branagh described the group as "the greatest quartet of Shakespearean actors on the planet" as they talked about the highs and lows of their careers. In April 2021, Smith appeared in a streaming event alongside Kathleen Turner. The event was in support of The Royal Theatrical Fund.
Death and reactions[]
Smith died at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, on 27 September 2024, aged 89. King Charles III released a statement: "As the curtain comes down on a national treasure, we join all those around the world in remembering with the fondest admiration and affection her many great performances, and her warmth and wit that shone through both on and off the stage." She was praised by the UK's prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, who likewise described Smith as a "national treasure".
Figures in the entertainment industry who paid tribute to Smith included her Harry Potter co-star Daniel Radcliffe, who released a statement reading, in part: "I will always consider myself amazingly lucky to have been able to work with her ... the word legend is overused but if it applies to anyone in our industry then it applies to her." Another Harry Potter co-star, Emma Watson, released a statement reading, in part: "She was real, honest, funny and self-honouring ... Thank you for all of your kindness. I'll miss you." Her Gosford Park co-star Dame Helen Mirren compared Smith to Queen Elizabeth II, saying: "Like the Queen she has been a part of my life since I was a student and she was an icon even then", adding that "she was one of the greatest actresses of the past century".
Others who paid tribute to Smith included the Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling; the Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes; actors such as Rupert Grint, Bonnie Wright, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Viola Davis, Saoirse Ronan, Kristin Scott Thomas, Harriet Walter, Miriam Margolyes, Mia Farrow and Rob Lowe; and musician Paul McCartney; they had met in the 1960s and had occasionally dined together. Julie Andrews referred to Smith as a "dear friend"; Smith had attended her first wedding to Tony Walton. On 1 October theatres across the West End of London dimmed their lights for two minutes to mark Smith's death. It was announced that the lights would be dimmed across Broadway theatres as well in honour of her memory. Her funeral took place in a private service on 4 November at Mortlake Crematorium in Richmond, south west London.
Roles[]
External links[]
Maggie Smith at the Internet Movie Database- Maggie Smith at Emmys.com
