Window to the World, calling for Wind of Wisdom, as common sense is a gift to each soul, as common environment is the inseparable planet, as common desire is to live in a better world.
Sad. Beloved Maggie left behind her legacy, saying farewell as Lady Violet Crawley in “Downton Abbey”: “…and now it’s time to go”
Maggie Smith: ‘A National Treasure’
Viola Davis commended Smith for “defying the expectations of age” in a touching tribute. “The end of an era of the sheer definition of what it means to be an actor. You created characters that clung to us, moved us, entertained us……made us look within,” she wrote in part. “You were greatness personified Dame Maggie Smith.”
Harry Potter protagonist Daniel Radcliffe issued a sweet statement, remembering the first time she met the actress well before the wizard film franchise, saying he would “always consider myself amazingly lucky to have been able to work with her.” “She was a fierce intellect, a gloriously sharp tongue, could intimidate and charm in the same instant and was, as everyone will tell you, extremely funny,” he wrote, later adding, “The word legend is overused but if it applies to anyone in our industry then it applies to her. Thank you Maggie.”
Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter that “Maggie Smith was a truly great actress, and we were more than fortunate to be part of the last act in her stellar career. She was a joy to write for, subtle, many-layered, intelligent, funny and heart-breaking. Working with her has been the greatest privilege of my career, and I will never forget her.”
Paul McCartney also paid tribute to Smith Saturday on social media, “She was a great person with a wicked sense of humour whom over the years it has been my pleasure to know.”
Smith received Damehood for her contribution to the British stage and screen in her lifetime and won the Academy Award two times during a career that spanned over 70 years. Following her first Best Actress in a Supporting Role Oscar nomination in 1966 for Othello, Smith won Best Actress in a Lead Role four years later for 1969’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
Smith would receive four more Oscar nominations over the ensuing decades, winning once more for Best Supporting Actress for 1978’s California Suite. Her final Oscar nod came in that same category for 2001’s Gosford Park.
‘Harry Potter,’ ‘Downton Abbey’ Stars Pay Tribute to Maggie Smith: “One of the Greatest Actors of Our Time”
“Anyone who ever shared a scene with Maggie will attest to her sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable talent,” Downton star Hugh Bonneville shared with THR in a statement. “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.”
Sir Michael Caine wrote in a statement to THR, “It was my privilege to make two Films alongside the Legendary Maggie Smith. A truly brilliant Actress and a dear friend, who I will greatly miss.”
Daniel Radcliffe And ‘Harry Potter’ Cast Remember Costar Maggie Smith For “Fierce Intellect” And “True Definition of Greatness”
“The other thing I knew about her was that she was a Dame,” he continued, “so the first thing I asked her when we met was ‘would you like me to call you Dame?’ at which she laughed and said something to the effect of ‘don’t be ridiculous!’ I remember feeling nervous to meet her and then her putting me immediately at ease. She was incredibly kind to me on that shoot, and then I was lucky enough to go on working with her for another 10 years on the Harry Potter films. She was a fierce intellect, a gloriously sharp tongue, could intimidate and charm in the same instant and was, as everyone will tell you, extremely funny. I will always consider myself amazingly lucky to have been able to work with her and to spend time around her on set. The word legend is overused but if it applies to anyone in our industry then it applies to her. Thank you Maggie.”
Oscar-winning actress Dame Maggie Smith has been lauded as one of the greatest actors of our time, following her death aged 89.
The British star, who won two Academy Awards for her performances in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie and California Suite, died in hospital on Friday morning. With a career spanning some 70 years, Dame Maggie has been remembered for her versatile repertoire ranging from Shakespeare to character parts, including in the film series Harry Potter and TV drama Downton Abbey.
Maggie Smith, beloved ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘Harry Potter’ star
Dame Maggie Smith, one of Britain’s best-known actresses whose long career ranged from starring opposite Laurence Olivier in “Othello” on stage and screen, to roles in “Harry Potter” and “Downton Abbey,” has died, her sons announced in a statement shared by their publicist Clair Dobbs. She was 89.
Smith was born in 1934 in Ilford, then a middle-class east London suburb. Shortly before the start of World War II the family moved to Oxford, where her father worked as a pathologist at Oxford University. On graduating from high school, Smith attended the Oxford Playhouse School from 1951 to 1953, making her stage debut in an Oxford University Dramatic Society production of William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.”
She went on to appear on Broadway in “New Faces of 1956,” and then held the lead comedian role in the London revue “Share My Lettuce,” between 1957 and 1958. She soon began appearing regularly in plays at The Old Vic theater in London. In 1964, she played Desdemona to Olivier’s Othello, before reprising the role for the film version the following year. Smith won her first Academy Award for best actress in 1969 for her portrayal of an unconventional schoolteacher in the movie “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.”
In 1978, she was awarded a second Academy Award, this time for best supporting actress, for her performance in Neil Simon’s “California Suite.” She has also received British Academy Film Awards for her work, including for her roles in 1985’s “A Room with a View” and 1987’s “The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne.” Smith was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1990, and from then on was widely known as Dame Maggie Smith.
She came to the notice of younger viewers as the strict but fair witchcraft teacher Minerva McGonagall in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” (2001), also appearing in several “Harry Potter” sequels. Acclaim came again on both sides of the Atlantic for her interpretation of the caustic-tongued Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham in “Downton Abbey,” the acclaimed period drama about the British aristocracy. She received three Emmy Awards for the role, which she reprised for a 2019 feature-length film.
In her later years, Smith became a role model for ageing gracefully, a process she handled with her customary charm and wit.
