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Life in pictures: Dame Maggie Smith

News imageAP Dame Maggie SmithAP

Dame Maggie Smith, star of the Harry Potter films and Downton Abbey, has died at the age of 89.

She made her acting debut in 1952 and was still working seven decades later having moved from aspiring star to national treasure.

News imageHulton Archive/Getty Images Maggie Smith and George Nader star in the Ealing Studios film 'Nowhere To Go'. 1958Hulton Archive/Getty Images
She started out in the theatre as a prompt girl and understudy at the Oxford Repertory. Her first film role was an uncredited part in 1956. Two years later she was nominated for a Bafta as Best Newcomer in the 1958 melodrama, Nowhere to Go, in which she played a girl who shelters an escaped convict.
News imageGetty Images Joyce Redman as Emilia, Maggie Smith as Desdemona, and Laurence Olivier as Othello, in Stuart Burge's film version of Shakespeare's 'Othello', Shepperton Studios, Surrey, July 1965.Getty Images
In 1963, Laurence Olivier offered her the part of Desdemona opposite his Othello, at the National Theatre. Two years later, a film version with the original cast saw Smith being nominated for an Academy Award.
News imageGetty Images English actress Maggie Smith as Jean Brodie in a classroom scene from 'The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie', directed by Ronald Neame, 1969. Getty Images
In 1969 she played one of her most famous roles, the non-conformist teacher in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
News imageMirrorpix via Getty Images Maggie Smith, with her husband Robert Stevens and friends celebrating her Oscar winning award with a small party at the Stalls Bar in The Old Vic on the night of her first performance. 8th April 1970.Mirrorpix via Getty Images
The role won her a Best Actress Oscar, international fame and also marriage to her co-star Robert Stephens. She celebrated her win with a small party at the Stalls Bar in The Old Vic in London.
News imageGetty Images English actress Maggie Smith with her two children, Chris Larkin (left) and Toby Stephens, at London Airport, March 1971.Getty Images
The couple had two sons, Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin.
News imageGetty Images Maggie Smith with her husband Robert Stephens and their son Christopher departing from London Heathrow Airport for Los Angeles. 16th January 1970.Getty Images
Smith continued with the National Theatre including a performance alongside her husband in the Restoration comedy The Beaux' Stratagem in Los Angeles.
News imageGetty Images Maggie Smith plays the eccentric Aunt Augusta in the MGM film 'Travels With My Aunt', directed by George Cukor and adapted from the novel by Graham Greene, 1972. Getty Images
She received another Oscar nomination for Best Actress after playing Aunt Augusta in the George Cukor film, Travels With My Aunt, in 1972.
News imageAlamy Maggie Smith (as Amanda Prynne) and Robert Stephens (as Elyot Chase) in PRIVATE LIVES by Noel Coward directed by John Gielgud at the Queen's Theatre, London in 1972.Alamy
While touring America in Private Lives (a play in which they also appeared in London) Stephens, also the play's co-star, walked out on her and the production, leaving her to finish the tour alone.
News imageGetty Images Smith and Stephens lead the singing of 'Auld Lang Syne' at a New Year's Eve party in 1973.Getty Images
Smith and Stephens lead the singing of 'Auld Lang Syne' at a New Year's Eve party in 1973. However the marriage was to fail, and they divorced. In 1976, she married the playwright, Beverley Cross.
News imageGetty Images David Niven holding a martini glass as he and Maggie Smith stare forward in shock of what they see in a scene from the film 'Murder By Death', 1976Getty Images
The family moved to Canada and Smith spent four years in a repertory company. However, she continued to work in the cinema, starring opposite David Niven in Murder By Death in 1976.
News imageAlamy Maggie Smith and Peter Ustinov in a scene from the ©Paramount Pictures movie: Death on the Nile (1978).Alamy
In 1978 she played opposite Peter Ustinov in Death on the Nile.
News imageAlamy Maggie Smith and Michael Palin in a scene from A Private Function in 1984Alamy
The Eighties saw a number of memorable cinema performances, and more awards including Baftas for A Private Function, starring with Michael Palin and A Room With A View, which also garnered her a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination.
News imageGetty Images English actor Maggie Smith with her family in their country home in Sussex. Husband Beverley Cross and her two sons. Chris watches his brother Toby as he vaults the gate in 1986 (photo by Ian Cook/Getty Images)Getty Images
Smith, her two sons and husband Beverley Cross had a country home in Sussex.
News imageGetty Images English actress Maggie Smith and French actor Lambert Wilson in Simon Callow's production of 'The Infernal Machine', by Jean Cocteau, at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London on November 4, 1986. Getty Images
Smith combined her cinema work with a return to the stage, which included performances in Simon Callow's production of 'The Infernal Machine', at the Lyric, Hammersmith, and Lettice and Lovage at the Globe Theatre, London
News imageAlamy Maggie Smit in Hook (USA 1991)Alamy
In 1990 she was created DBE and, a year later, appeared as the ageing Wendy in Hook, Stephen Spielberg's sequel to Peter Pan.
News imageAlamy Maggie Smith in HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONEAlamy
Smith's fan base grew in the noughties after she appeared as Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, a role she would reprise in subsequent Potter movies.
News imageAlamy Dame Maggie Smith and Dame Judy Dench in Ladies in Lavender, 2004Alamy
In 2004 she appeared with her long time friend and fellow Dame Judy Dench, in the gentle drama Ladies in Lavender.
News imageAlamy Dame Maggie Smith as Countess of Trentham in Gosford ParkAlamy
Two years later she was the cash strapped Countess of Trentham in Gosford Park, Robert Altman's take on the English country house murder.
News imageITV/Alamy Dame Maggie Smith as Dowager Countess of Grantham in TV series Downton AbbeyITV/Alamy
It was a role that she reprised in all but name when she was cast in ITV drama, Downton Abbey. The name of her character may have changed to the Dowager Countess of Grantham but the performance was essentially the same.
News imageITV/Alamy Dame Maggie Smith as Dowager Countess of Grantham in TV series Downton AbbeyITV/Alamy
She remained with the Downton Abbey cast until 2015 when the series finally came to an end, reprising the role for two films in 2019 and 2022.
News imageAlamy Ronald Pickup, Celia Imrie, Diana Hardcastle, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith et Bill Nighy in a scene from The Best Exotic Marigold HotelAlamy
In 2007 Smith was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was given the all-clear after two years of treatment and went on to receive a Bafta nomination for her role in the 2012 film, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
News imageGetty Images Dame Maggie Smith in a scene from Alan Bennett's "The Lady In The Van" directed by Nicholas Hytner in 2014 in London, UKGetty Images
2015 saw her give a moving performance in the film, The Lady in the Van, based on the true tale of Mary Shepherd, an elderly woman who lived in a dilapidated van on the writer Alan Bennett's driveway in London for 15 years.
News imageAlamy The Miracle Club is a 2023Alamy
Smith's final screen role was in 2023 in The Miracle Club, alongside Laura Linney and Kathy Bates. Set in 1967, it follows a group of women from Dublin who go on a pilgrimage to the French town of Lourdes.