Remembering legendary actress DAME MAGGIE SMITH

Photo credit: Warner Bros

It has been announced this afternoon that legendary stage and screen actress Dame Maggie Smith has sadly died aged 89.

Perhaps best known for playing Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter film series and the Dowager Countess of Grantham in ITV’s Downton Abbey, Smith’s glittering career spanned seven decades.

Smith’s first stage role was Viola in Twelfth Night at Oxford Playhouse when she was only 17. Then in 1956, she made her professional debut on Broadway in New Faces of ’56.

She worked extensively with the National Theatre - most notably played Desdemona alongside Laurence Olivier in Othello - then performed as part of Stratford Festival in Canada, before returning to the UK to the West End stage.

Smith won a Tony Award for her performance in Lettice and Lovage, a play written specifically for her by Peter Schaffer, in 1990. She was also awarded an Academy Award for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969, and for California Suite in 1978.

Her most recent stage appearance was in A German Life at the Bridge Theatre, where she received an Evening Standard Theatre Award for her performance.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Maggie Smith’s family and friends at this difficult time.