The English actress Dame Maggie Smith has died at the age of 89.
A decorated career spanning more than seven decades on screen and stage saw the Oscar, Bafta, Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony Award-winner endear herself to generations, from fans of her breakout theatre performances in the 50s and 60s to the modern-day audiences of Harry Potter and Downton Abbey.
Here are some of her most iconic roles.
Jean Brodie (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie)
Having made her on-stage acting debut in 1952, and then received a first Oscar nomination for Othello in 1965, Dame Maggie’s first Academy Award came after her 1969 performance in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
Playing the fanatical teacher Jean Brodie, she won a coveted best actress Oscar.
It was her breakout role as an international star, setting her firmly on course for a glittering career that saw her win 57 other awards including five BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Primetime Emmy Awards, five Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award.
Diana Barrie (California Suite)
A second Academy Award was to follow just under a decade later.
In 1978, Damie Maggie starred in as Diana Barrie in American anthology comedy film California Suite and won the best supporting actress Oscar for her performance in the film – making her, to date, the only person to win an Oscar for portraying a fictional Oscar nominee – as well as her first Golden Globe.
Charlotte Bartlett (A Room with a View)
For her performance as Charlotte Bartlett in A Room with a View (1985), Dame Maggie earned her fifth Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, also winning a second Golden Globe Award and her third British Academy Film Award for Best Actress.
The film, which also starred Helena Bonham Carter, Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Simon Callow and Denholm Elliott, drew universal acclaim and earned eight Academy Award nominations, including for Best Picture.
Lettice Douffet (Lettice and Lovage)
In 1987, Dame Maggie starred on-stage in the London production of Lettice and Lovage – a play written specifically for her by the playwright Peter Shaffer – alongside Margaret Tyzack, receiving an Olivier Award nomination.
When she reprised the title role of Lettice Douffet in 1990 as it transferred to Broadway, she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.
Dame Maggie is part of an elite selection of actresses to have achieved the “Triple Crown of Acting” – that is, winning the highest accolades for film, television and theatre.
Constance, Dowager Countess of Trentham (Gosford Park)
Featuring amongst an all-star cast for the 2001 satirical black comedy mystery film Gosford Park, Dame Maggie earned her sixth Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actress alongside Helen Mirren.
Her role in the film, as Constance, Dowager Countess of Trentham, sparked another similar entry on this list several years later.
She also received both Bafta film and Golden Globe Award nominations for the performance, and won her first Screen Actors Guild Award, for Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture.
Professor Minerva McGonagall (Harry Potter)
Dame Maggie reached yet another fanbase worldwide when she took on the role of the stern yet lovable Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter franchise – which she once described as “my pension”.
Having reportedly been specifically requested – alongside Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid – for the films by author J.K. Rowling, she appeared in seven of the eight blockbusters between 2001 and 2011.
Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham (Downton Abbey)
Starting in 2010, Dame Maggie was central to the success of ITV period drama Downton Abbey in the role of Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham – one which she reprised in the franchise’s films.
Her performances over the show’s six seasons won her three Primetime Emmy awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress between 2011 and 2016, as well as her third and final Golden Globe Award and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The series was originally planned as a spin-off of the 2001 film Gosford Park, but instead was developed as a standalone property inspired by the film and set earlier in the 20th century.
In total, she scooped nine Emmy nominations, winning four times (her first, as lead actress, was for her role as Mrs Emily Delahunty in the HBO Television film My House in Umbria in 2003), and 13 Bafta film nominations, including for performances in Young Cassidy in 1966, Death On The Nile in 1979, Quartet in 1982, The Secret Garden in 1994 and The Lady in the Van in 2015.
Other famous roles include the dying older lover in Love, Pain And The Whole Damn Thing and her Bafta-winning title role as the tragic lodger in The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne.
