The incomparable Dame Maggie Smith, known for her myriad roles in film, TV, and onstage, died Friday in London, her family said. She was 89.
“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,” her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin said in a statement. “She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.”
They wrote, “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.”
Maggie Smith was born Margaret Natalie Smith on Dec. 28, 1934, in Ilford, England, to Nathaniel and Margaret Smith. When she was 4, her family, including her older twin brothers Alistair and Ian, moved to Oxford, where Smith’s father worked as a public health pathologist at the university. Smith attended Oxford High School until she was 16, when she left to study acting at the Oxford Playhouse.
The freckle-faced redhead began her career at the Playhouse in 1952, transforming for roles including Viola in “The Twelfth Night.” In 1956, she made her film and Broadway debuts, appearing as one of the party guests in the movie “Child in the House” and playing several roles in the review “New Faces of ’56” at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City.
“There was one very famous one, which was the one with Eartha Kitt. And I think everybody who was in it thought they were all going to be Eartha Kitt or be big stars,” Smith told NPR of starring in “New Faces.” “That didn’t happen, but it was a wake-up call to have one’s first professional job on Broadway, I must say.”
Throughout her over-60-year career, Smith starred in more than 80 films and TV series and appeared in dozens of plays, including four on Broadway.
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