The 89-year-old won her first Oscar for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969 and went on to win several Golden Globes and BAFTAs throughout her long career.
Dame Maggie Smith was a highly versatile actress whose repertoire ranged from Shakespeare to Harry Potter and Downton Abbey.
She won her first Oscar for The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969 and went on to garner several Golden Globes and BAFTAs throughout her long career.
Dame Maggie, who has died at the age of 89, was part of a generation of female performers that included Judi Dench and Vanessa Redgrave.
Born Margaret Natalie Smith in Ilford, east London, on 28 December 1934, she once offered a brief summary of her life: “One went to school, one wanted to act, one started to act, one’s still acting.”
She studied at Oxford High School for Girls and later at the Oxford Playhouse School, which led to a busy apprenticeship.
She used Maggie as her stage name because another Margaret Smith was active in the theatre.
Dame Maggie first appeared on stage at the age of 18 in Twelfth Night and made a name for herself starring in revues as a singer and dancer.
There and at the Old Vic she demonstrated her abilities in both tragedy and comedy and listed directors Ingmar Bergman and William Gaskill as important influences.
Success in the film industry
Dame Maggie’s abilities were quickly recognised by the film industry and she was initially given several supporting roles.
But she later emerged as a leading star with her performance as the fanatical teacher Jean Brodie in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969, for which she won a best actress Oscar and a BAFTA.
She earned a second Oscar for her role in California Suite in 1978, which won her a best supporting actress trophy, as well as a Golden Globe.
She was made a dame by the late Queen in 1990.
A new generation of fans from Harry Potter and Downton Abbey
Dame Maggie went on to star in Love, Pain And The Whole Damn Thing, The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne and Gosford Park, which earned her a sixth Oscar nomination.
But she was introduced to a whole new generation of fans when she played Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter films and Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, in Downton Abbey.