Maggie Smith, Harry Potter And Downton Abbey Star, Dead At 89

Dame Maggie Smith, distinguished actor with an impressive career in theater, film, and television that spanned more than 60 years, died at 89 years old on September 27, AP reported. She's survived by her two sons, Toby Stephens and Chris Lark. In recent years, her most famous roles included Professor Minerva McGonagall in the "Harry Potter" films and Dowager Countess of Grantham in "Downton Abbey." But her favorite medium was the theater.

Smith won the "triple crown" of acting awards — a Tony, an Emmy, and an Oscar. She was named a dame in 1990, and in 2014, she became one of three actresses to receive the Order of the Companions of Honour from Queen Elizabeth II. Amid news of her death, fans are revisiting her life.

Born Margaret Smith in Ilford, England, in 1934, the future performer was the little sister to twin brothers. She was interested in theater, and at age 17, Smith played Viola in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" with the 1952 Oxford Dramatics Society. Playwright Beverley Cross, whom she'd marry 23 years later, saw her act, and he said that upon seeing her, "I thought, 'There you go; that's someone very special; that's someone worth watching.' She was very striking with that red hair, very thin, very tall," according to The New York Times. Cross added that Smith appeared ”very vulnerable, and very, very funny."

Smith met Cross, but he was married to someone else at the time, so she ended up marrying actor Robert Stephens in 1967, a fellow member of Olivier's National Theater, and they welcomed two sons together, Toby and Chris, who both also went into acting. Smith and Stephens divorced in 1975 and she subsequently  married Cross the same year. They remained married until he died in 1998. Of her marriage to Cross, she told The New York Times, "I'm remarkably fortunate. When you meet again someone you should have married in the first place, it's like a script. That kind of luck is too good to be true."

Maggie Smith continued working in theater through the 1950s, making her Broadway debut in 1956. Smith also began working in film, earning her first BAFTA nomination for "Nowhere to Go" in 1959. In 1964, she played Desdemona opposite Laurence Olivier in "Othello" onstage, which led to her reprising the role in the 1965 film.

Smith won her first Oscar in 1969, earning the Best Actress statue for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie." Her second came in 1978 for Best Supporting Actress in "California Suite." Smith scored her Tony win in 1990 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for "Lettice and Lovage." Smith earned her first Emmy in 2003 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for HBO's "My House in Umbria," and she went on to win four more Emmys for her role in "Downton Abbey."

Smith was notoriously versatile, playing both dramatic, emotional roles, and caustic, funny characters. Her first husband noted that Smith was able to turn on a sixpence according to The Guardian, while Smith told the outlet that she always looked for laughter in her work. "I tend to head for what's amusing because a lot of things aren't happy. But usually you can find a funny side to practically anything." This icon will surely be missed.