Maggie Smith – a life in pictures
Dame Maggie Smith, who has died aged 89, had an incredibly varied career as a star of stage, screen and TV – from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie to Downton Abbey to Harry Potter. We look back at her career high points
· the GuardianMaggie Smith pictured next to the New Faces of ’56 poster, where she made her Broadway debut
Photograph: Daily Mail/Rex/Alamy
Smith with George Nader in the Ealing Studios film Nowhere to Go, 1958
Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
With Peter Ustinov in Hot Millions, 1968
Photograph: Camerique/Alamy
A still from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, 1969
Photograph: 20th Century Fox/Everett / Rex Features
Oh! What a Lovely War, 1969
Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features
Travels With My Aunt, 1972
Photograph: Archive Photos/Getty Images
Maggie Smith with her husband, actor Robert Stephens, and children Christopher and Toby in 1972. Smith and Stephens divorced in 1975
Photograph: Daily Mail/REX/Shutterstock
With Michael Caine in California Suite, 1978
Photograph: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy
Smith, second from left, in the Merchant Ivory film A Room With a View, 1986
Photograph: Alamy
With Michael Palin in A Private Function, 1984
Photograph: Sportsphoto/Cine Text/Allstar
In a scene from The Secret Garden, 1993
Photograph: Archive Photos/Getty Images
As Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest at the Aldwych theatre, 1993
Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian
Tea with Mussolini, 1999
Photograph: TCD/Prod.DB/Alamy
With Kelly MacDonald in Gosford Park, 2001
Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex
As Professor Minerva McGonagall in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, 2001
Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/Warner Brothers
With Judi Dench in The Breath of Life, at Theatre Royal Haymarket, 2002
Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, 2011
Photograph: Cinematic/Alamy
Smith in the final series of Downton Abbey, 2015
Photograph: Nick Briggs/ITV
Alex Jennings and Smith as Alan Bennett and Miss Shepherd in The Lady in the Van, 2015
Photograph: Allstar/BBC Films
Winning the best actress award for The Lady in the Van at the London Evening Standard film awards in 2016
Photograph: David M. Benett/Getty Images
The Miracle Club, 2023
Photograph: Sony Pictures/Everett/Shutterstock
Photograph: Jane Bown/The Observer