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Maggie Smith

Dame Margaret Natalie Smith CH DBE (December 28, 1934 − September 27, 2024) was a British actress. Known for her wit in comedic roles, she had an extensive career on stage and screen over seven decades and was one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actresses. She received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, four Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award as well as nominations for six Laurence Olivier Awards. Smith was one of the few performers to earn the Triple Crown of Acting. Smith began her stage career as a student, performing at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952, and made her professional debut on Broadway in New Faces of '56. Over the following decades Smith established herself alongside Judi Dench as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. On Broadway, she received Tony Award nominations for Noël Coward's Private Lives (1975) and Tom Stoppard's Night and Day (1979), and won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for Lettice and Lovage (1990). She won Academy Awards for Best Actress for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and Best Supporting Actress for California Suite (1978). She was Oscar-nominated for Othello (1965), Travels with My Aunt (1972), A Room with a View (1985) and Gosford Park (2001). She portrayed Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter film series (2001–2011). She also acted in Death on the Nile (1978), Hook (1991), Sister Act (1992), The Secret Garden (1993), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012), Quartet (2012) and The Lady in the Van (2015). Smith received newfound attention and international fame for her role as Violet Crawley in the British period drama Downton Abbey (2010–2015). The role earned her three Primetime Emmy Awards; she had previously won one for the HBO film My House in Umbria (2003). Over the course of her career she was the recipient of numerous honorary awards including the British Film Institute Fellowship in 1993, the BAFTA Fellowship in 1996 and the Society of London Theatre Special Award in 2010. Smith was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990. Description above from the Wikipedia article Maggie Smith, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

2022
Downton Abbey: A New Era

as Violet Crawley

Movie
2021
A Boy Called Christmas

as Aunt Ruth

Movie
2011
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

as Minerva McGonagall

Movie
2010
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

as Agatha Rose Doherty

Movie
2009
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

as Minerva McGonagall

Movie
2007
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

as Minerva McGonagall

Movie
2007
Becoming Jane

as Lady Gresham

Movie
2005
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

as Minerva McGonagall

Movie
2004
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

as Minerva McGonagall

Movie
2002
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

as Minerva McGonagall

Movie
2001
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

as Minerva McGonagall

Movie
1993
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit

as Mother Superior

Movie
1992
Sister Act

as Mother Superior

Movie
1991
Hook

as Granny Wendy

Movie
1986
A Room with a View

as Charlotte Bartlett

Movie
1982
Evil Under the Sun

as Daphne Castle

Movie
1978
Death on the Nile

as Miss Bowers

Movie
2010
Downton Abbey

as Violet Crawley

TV Show