Hook, Sister Act then the Harry Potter saga years later… Maggie Smith was a familiar face to young viewers from the 1990s to today. And with it, a little bit of all of our childhoods disappears. The British actress died at the age of 89announced his family.
Thanks to her talent but also to the longevity of her career and the variety of roles she has taken on, she is one of the most awarded actresses of the 20th century with two Oscars, three Golden Globes, six BAFTAs, three Emmys. Awards and a Tony Award. Considered one of the greatest British actresses of all time, she was knighted in 1990 and then in 2014: Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire then Companion of Honor. Dame Maggie Smith was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, which did not prevent her from starring in the last three Harry Potter installments.
Minerva forever
Despite her immense and plethoric career in cinema and theater, for hundreds of millions of fans around the world, Maggie Smith will remain as the face and voice of the character of the wise Harry Potter: Minerva McGonagall. In the eight films, she was able to give substance to the professor of Gryffindor house. A very powerful witch, member of the Order of the Phoenix, strict but fair, feared and respected but also loving and compassionate with the students, the character of Minerva McGonagall seemed to fit Maggie Smith like a glove. The transfiguration professor had found her ideal interpreter.
Another role from the end of her career will have left its mark on spectators: Lady Violet Crawley, the severe and yet hilarious matriarch of the series. Downton Abbey. The character of the Countess of Grantham, with her deliciously cowardly lines, brought international fame to Maggie Smith. The actress played the ruthless aristocrat for six seasons of the television series (2010-2015) created by Julian Fellowes, winning a Golden Globe and three Emmy Awards.
Previously, Maggie Smith had appeared in many popular hits such as Death on the Nile (1978), Clash of the Titans (1981), Room with a view (1986), Hook or Captain Hook’s Revenge (1991), Sister Act (1992) or even Gosford Park (2001).
“I don’t tolerate fools”
A complete artist, she was known for her humor and her concern for perfection, veering towards ferocity. “It’s true that I don’t tolerate fools, and therefore they don’t tolerate me, and therefore I bristle. Maybe that’s why I’m quite good at playing cantankerous old ladies,” she told the British daily The Guardian in 2014.
She “can capture in one moment more than many actors can convey in an entire film.” She can be vulnerable, fierce, dark and hilarious at the same time and brings to the set every day the energy and curiosity of a young actor just starting out,” said Nicholas Hytner, who directed her in “The Lady in the van” (2015).
Two Oscars, two marriages
Born on December 28, 1934 in Ilford, Essex (south-east of England), Margaret Smith began on the stages of the Oxford Playhouse in the early 1950s. She then joined the troupe of the London theater of the Old Vic then that of the Royal National Theater where she had a string of successes, alongside her husband, the actor Robert Stephens.
Her film career took off in the 1960s and in 1969 she won the Oscar for best actress for Miss Brodie’s beautiful years.
Her marriage to Robert Stephens, an alcoholic, unfaithful and depressive, with whom she had two sons, collapsed in 1973. She divorced in 1975 and remarried shortly after to the playwright Beverley Cross, with whom she went to live and work at the Canada.
“Died peacefully”
It was her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin who announced the news in a joint statement: “It is with great sadness that we must announce the death of Lady Maggie Smith.
“She died peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday September 27. She was a very private person, she was with her friends and family at the end. She is survived by two loving sons and five grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother. »