Dame Margaret Natalie Smith

Dame Maggie Smith (1934–2024) was one of the most revered and beloved classical actresses in theatrical and film history. Beginning her stage career at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952, she was invited by Laurence Olivier to become a founding member of the Royal National Theatre, starring as Desdemona opposite Olivier's Othello in 1964.

Smith won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her magnetic portrayal of an eccentric Scottish schoolteacher in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), followed by a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Neil Simon's California Suite (1978). Her iconic performances spanned merchant Ivory period dramas like A Room with a View and comedies such as Sister Act.

In the twenty-first century, she attained global adoration among audiences of all ages as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter franchise and as the deliciously acerbic Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, in Downton Abbey, winning three Emmy Awards for the role.