Harry Potter Actress Maggie Smith Passes Away At 89

Hollywood actress, Maggie Smith, best known for her role of Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films breathed her last at 89, reported The Hollywood Reporter.

Her remarkable acting career spanned over six decades. She won two Academy Awards, four Emmy Awards making her one of the finest talents in film and television history.

Maggie Smith was widely recognised for her sharp-witted performance as Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, in the series Downton Abbey. The actress won her first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1970 for her portrayal of a strong-willed schoolmistress in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969).

In 1978, she won her second Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in California Suite, where she played an Oscar-nominated actress attending the awards ceremony.

In recognition of her significant contributions to the arts, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Smith as a Dame in 1989. Later, in 2014, she was honoured as a member of the Order of Companions of Honor, joining other illustrious figures such as Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Judi Dench.