Maggie Smith

The two-time Oscar winner who played Professor Minerva McGonagall.

Maggie Smith (28 December 1934 – 27 September 2024) was a British actress known for her wit in comic and dramatic roles across a career of seven decades on stage and screen. She played Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films from 2001 to 2011.

She won two Academy Awards, five BAFTAs, four Emmys, three Golden Globes and a Tony, one of the few performers to earn the Triple Crown of Acting.

Quick Facts

Honorific prefix: Dame
Birth name: Margaret Natalie Smith
Born: 28 December 1934
Birthplace: Ilford, Essex, England
Died: 27 September 2024
Place of death: Chelsea, London, England
Occupation: Actress
Years active: 1952–2024

Facts from the source article.

Background

Born in Ilford, Essex, she moved to Oxford at four and left Oxford High School at 16 to study acting at the Oxford Playhouse, where she began her career as Viola in Twelfth Night in 1952. Her Broadway debut came in New Faces of '56, and she later worked with the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Her Oscars were Best Actress for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969 and Best Supporting Actress for California Suite in 1978, with further nominations for Othello, Travels with My Aunt, A Room with a View and Gosford Park. She won the Tony for Lettice and Lovage in 1990 and was made a dame the same year.

Late in life she found new international fame as Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey, which brought three Primetime Emmys. Other films include Death on the Nile, Hook, Sister Act, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and The Lady in the Van.