actor-dame-maggie-smith-dies-at-89

Britain's much-loved theatre and movie actor Dame Maggie Smith has died at the age of 89.

The Harry Potter and Downton Abbey series "Passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27th September. An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end.

"She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother," her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin said in a statement.

"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," they said.

The stage and cinema actor who began her career in theatre won eight Bafta awards and two Oscars for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1970 and California Suite in 1979 in addition to four other nominations.

One of her nominations was for the role of Desdemona in the film Othello made two years later with the original cast of an eponymous play staged at the National Theatre in 1963.

Dame maggie, who won her first Bafta for the crime film Nowhere to Go (1958) is best remembered by the younger generations for her portrayal of the sharp-tongued Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter series and the acid-tongued but witty dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey.