New Delhi:
Maggie Smith, the acclaimed actress best known for her portrayal of Professor Minerva McGonagall in the https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/the-last-one-daniel-radcliffe-talks-about-upcoming-harry-potter-tv-series-5911327Harry Potter films, has died at 89, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. Her remarkable career spanned over six decades, earning her two Academy Awards, four Emmy Awards and a reputation as one of the finest talents in film and television history.
Maggie Smith was widely recognised for her sharp-witted performance as Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, in the series Downton Abbey. The actress won her first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1970 for her portrayal of a strong-willed schoolmistress in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969). Nearly a decade later, she received her second Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in California Suite (1978), where she played an Oscar-nominated actress attending the awards ceremony.
Throughout her career, Will Smith was nominated for four additional Oscars for her work in Travels With My Aunt (1972), Othello (1965), A Room With a View (1985), and Gosford Park (2001).
In recognition of her significant contributions to the arts, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Smith as a Dame in 1989. Later, in 2014, she was honoured as a member of the Order of Companions of Honor, joining other illustrious figures such as Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Judi Dench.
Maggie Smith’s film career included memorable performances in Murder by Death (1976), where she was part of an ensemble cast, and as the strict yet lovable Mother Superior in Sister Act (1992). She also appeared in Hook (1991) alongside Robin Williams as Granny Wendy. In her later years, she impressed audiences as a cantankerous retiree in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011).
Her television work was equally impressive. In addition to her Emmy-winning role in Downton Abbey, she starred in My House in Umbria, earning another Emmy for her performance. Maggie Smith was also nominated for other television roles, including Mrs Venable in Suddenly Last Summer and Betsey Trotwood in the BBC miniseries David Copperfield, where she acted alongside a young Daniel Radcliffe, who later portrayed Harry Potter.
