Actress Dame Maggie Smith, known for the Harry Potter films and Downton Abbey, has died at the age of 89, her family has said.
A legend of British stage and screen, she won two Oscars during her career – for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1970 and California Suite in 1979.
She had four other nominations, and received eight Bafta awards.
A statement from 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.
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their care and unstinting kindness during her final days.
“We thank you for all your kind messages and support and ask that you respect our privacy at this time.”
Hugh Bonneville, who appeared in Downton Abbey, said: “Anyone who ever shared a scene with Maggie will attest to her sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable talent.
“She was a true legend of her generation and thankfully will live on in so many magnificent screen performances. My condolences to her boys and wider family.”
Dame Maggie also reprised her role for the two Downton Abbey films.
In 2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era, her character died of the illness she revealed at the end of the 2019 film, to the huge upset of her family and friends.
Downton followed the success of 2002 period drama Gosford Park, which earned Dame Maggie both Oscar and Bafta nominations for playing Dowager Countess of Trentham.
‘We will never see another’
In his statement on Friday, the prime minister said Dame Maggie “introduced us to new worlds with the countless stories she acted over her long career”.
“Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones. May she rest in peace,” he wrote.
Rob Lowe, who starred with Dame Maggie in 1993’s Suddenly, Last Summer, recalled “the unforgettable experience of working with her”.
“Sharing a two-shot was like being paired with a lion,” he said.
“She could eat anyone alive, and often did. But funny, and great company. And suffered no fools.
Dame Maggie’s career spanned eight decades, with early acclaim coming when she gained her first Bafta nomination for Nowhere to Go in 1958.
In 1963, she was offered the part of Desdemona in Othello at the National Theatre by Laurence Olivier, and two years later it was made into a film and Smith was nominated for her first Oscar.
The actress’s other memorable roles included 1985 Merchant Ivory film A Room With a View, in which she played the chaperone Charlotte Barlett, accompanying Helen Bonham Carter’s Lucy Honeychurch to Italy.
The role earned her another Oscar nomination and a Bafta.
And along with another national treasure, Dame Judi Dench, she appeared as an English woman living in 1930s Italy in the film Tea with Mussolini, which was released in 1999.
Dame Maggie also played the firm but fair Reverend Mother in the two Sister Act films, starring Whoopi Goldberg as nightclub singer Doloris Wilson, who takes refuge from the mob in San Francisco by posing as a nun in a local convent.
She played the old woman who spent 15 years living in a van outside Alan Bennett’s house in a film adaptation of the writer’s The Lady in the Van in 2015.
Her final roles included 2023’s The Miracle Club, which follows a group of women from Dublin who go on a pilgrimage to the French town of Lourdes, co-starring Kathy Bates and Laura Linney.