Maggie Smith Cause of Death: Harry Potter Star Best Known for Minerva McGonagall Passes Away at 89
- Dame Maggie Smith, widely known for her role as Professor McGonagall, has passed away at the age of 89.
- Smith's sons issued an official statement addressing her death, but did not reveal the cause.
- The Academy Award-winning actress was not very impressed with the fame Downtown Abbey brought to her.
Maggie Smith, one of the most popular British actresses of her generation, passed away at the age of 89. Besides 2 Academy Awards, 4 Emmys, and countless stage credits to her name, she was also appointed as the Dame Commander of Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. So, she was Dame Maggie Smith to her countrymen.
Smith had played a variety of roles throughout her career. From a freethinking Scottish schoolteacher in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie to the acid-tongued dowager countess on Downton Abbey, she has portrayed some of the best characters ever. However, she has now bid farewell to the world that will always remember her as Professor Minerva McGonagall.
Maggie Smith Has Parted Ways with the World at the Age of 89
Maggie Smith began acting professionally at the age of 17. The year was 1952 and she landed the role of Viola in a stage adaptation of the Shakespearean romantic comedy play Twelfth Night. She went on to appear in several other stage productions before making her TV debut with a role in 1954’s Oxford Accents. Her film debut followed in 1956’s Child in the House.
Fast forward to 1962, she won her first Best Actress Evening Standard Award, an accolade she won five more times. She was so phenomenal at her job that she became her contemporary, Laurence Olivier’s professional rival at his Royal National Theatre. Ironically, he was the one who had invited her to join the company.
This was only the beginning of the legacy she has left behind after ruling the hearts of the masses for decades. In their statement to BBC, her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin said:
It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith. She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27th September. An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end. She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.
The cause of her death has not been disclosed yet. Stephens and Larkin also expressed their gratitude to the staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, where the actress breathed her last.
Maggie Smith Managed to Stay Under the Radar Throughout Her Career Until She Starred in Downtown Abbey
Smith is widely known for her role as the Hogwarts School’s stern transformation teacher Professor McGonagall, one of the many lead characters in the Harry Potter film franchise. Despite this, she managed to stay out of the spotlight.
That changed when she began starring in Downtown Abbey, and she was not a fan of the attention that came with it. At the BFI and Radio Times Festival in 2017, she told Mark Lawson:
I led a perfectly normal life until Downton Abbey. No, I’m not kidding. I mean I’d go to theaters, I’d go to galleries and things like that on my own and now, I can’t and that’s you know awful. [..] It’s all truly television. I mean I’ve been working around for a very long time before Downton Abbey and you know, life was fine. Nobody knew who the hell I was.
Even so, after the period drama ended in 2015, the actress returned for two film adaptations released in 2019 and 2022, respectively. That said, the witch has put down the pointed hat for once and all.
