by Abb Jones
The Reelness

Maggie Smith, who won Oscars in 1969 for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and in 1978 for Neil Simon’s California Suite, and more recently gained new fans in Downton Abbey and the Harry Potter films, has died at the age of 89.

Smith’s sons say she died early Friday at a London hospital, surrounded by friends and family.

Smith was born in 1934 in Ilford, a working-class suburb of London. The family moved to Oxford shortly before the start of World War II. Smith’s stage debut would take place in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night as a teenager, leading to a storied career on stage and screen and solidifying her as one of England’s leading actresses.

In more recent years she gained fame among younger viewers as the witchcraft teacher Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, and later, as caustic-tongued Dowager Countess of Downton Abbey, winning three Emmy Awards for the role, which she also reprised in two films.

Married twice and preceded in death by her second husband, playwright Beverley Cross, in 1999, Smith is survived by two sons and five grandchildren.