LONDON (AP) — Maggie Smith, the gifted actress who always captivated audiences and won an Oscar for the 1969 film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and later gained a new generation of fans through her roles as Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, passed away on Friday at the age of 89.

Her sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, confirmed the sad news, announcing that Maggie Smith died early Friday at a hospital in London.
“She leaves behind two sons and five grandchildren who loved her dearly and are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother,” the statement read, issued through her publicist Clair Dobbs.

Maggie Smith was widely recognized as one of the most influential British actresses of her generation, alongside Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench. Over the course of her career, she won two Oscars, several Academy Award nominations, and numerous other accolades.

Even in her later years, Maggie Smith remained in demand in the entertainment industry, though she once joked, “Once you get into the granny era, you’re lucky to get any role.”
Smith humorously referred to the roles she took on in her later years as “a gallery of grotesques,” including Professor McGonagall. When asked why she accepted that role, she quipped, “Harry Potter is my pension.”