By Rivka Inger, Features Editor
Maggie Smith is most commonly remembered as the stern, formidable face of Professor Minerva McGonagall from the Harry Potter series. She was also known for her slightly more niche role as the witty Dowager Countess of Grantham, Violet Crawley, in Downton Abbey, a role which she reprised as recently as 2022. However, Smith’s roles started long before she began portraying these wise maternal figures, with an acclaimed acting career spanning over seven decades.
Margaret Natalie “Maggie” Smith was born in Essex, England on December 28, 1934 to parents Margaret Hutton and Nathaniel Smith. Maggie had a relatively standard upbringing until the age of 16, when she left Oxford High School to study acting at the Oxford Playhouse. From there, she went on to land her first official role as Viola in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in 1952 at the age of 17 as part of the Oxford Playhouse. For the next decade, Smith starred in a number of theatrical productions including New Faces of 1956 (1956), Share My Lettuce (1957-58) and Mary, Mary (1963), all of which would help put her on the map as an up and coming actress.
She continued to act as part of the Oxford Playhouse, winning small awards along the way, before making her big break in film in 1965 for her role in Othello. This role eventually marked her first Academy Award nomination. Smith then solidified her upcoming legacy and established herself as a dominating force in the world of film upon being awarded her first Academy Award in 1969 for Best Actress in a Leading Role in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. She then was nominated for four additional Academy Awards throughout her lifetime, with the most recent being in 2001 for Gosford Park.
In the early 2000s, Maggie Smith began playing Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter series. While casting the roles, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling had specially requested that Smith play the role of McGonagall, to which she happily agreed. This role made Smith famous to a whole new generation, as a new fanbase of children became familiar with her acting expertise. Similarly, Smith’s role as the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley showcased her exemplary skills to a contemporary generation, as well as winning her three Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.
When Smith wasn’t on stage or the screen, she engaged in a variety of pastimes, with one of her chief hobbies being charity and advocacy. In 2011, Smith donated NZ$4.6 million to help fund the Court Theatre in Christchurch after it was damaged by an earthquake. She was a patron of the Oxford Playhouse – the theater which launched her acting career – as well as Glaucoma UK. Smith additionally served as vice president at a number of additional charity organizations such as Chichester Cinema and the Royal Theatrical Fund. Her charity work also manifested itself in unusual ways, with some of her most unique charity contributions including a drawing of her own hand to the 2012 Celebrity Paw Auction, and a gnome which she had decorated herself to benefit the Royal Horticultural Society Campaign for School Gardening in 2013.
Maggie Smith was the proud mother of two sons and grandmother to five grandchildren. Her many accolades speak for themselves and her incredible energy will be dearly missed in the acting world.
Photo Caption: Maggie Smith
Photo Credit: Flickr