Maggie Smith, Grande Dame of Stage and Screen, Dies at 89

THE NEW YORK TIMES: She earned an extraordinary array of awards, from Oscars to Emmys to Tonys, but could still go almost everywhere unrecognized. Then came “Downton Abbey.”

As Violet Crawley, the acid-tongued dowager countess on “Downton Abbey,” Ms. Smith was the show’s breakout star from the beginning. | Nick Briggs/PBS, via Associated Press
Maggie Smith, one of the finest British stage and screen actors of her generation, whose award-winning roles ranged from a freethinking Scottish schoolteacher in “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” to the acid-tongued dowager countess on “Downton Abbey,” died on Friday in London. She was 89.

Her death, in a hospital, was announced by her family in a statement issued by a publicist. The statement gave no cause of death. » | Anita Gates and Robert Berkvist | Friday, September 27, 2024