It is with great sadness at the Mast that we report the death of Dame Maggie Smith, beloved British actress of the stage and screen. She died Friday at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London at the age of 89. Her cause of death is unknown.
Born in 1934, Smith began her career on stage at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952 as Viola in Twelfth Night. She won her first Academy Award in 1969 for the film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Today she is best known for her roles as Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter series and Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey. She was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990, for services to the performing arts.
In the hours since her death, tributes have poured in from her costars and fans of her longtime career. Stars have written that she was “a true legend” and that we will “never see another.”
Smith is survived by her two sons and five grandchildren.
