Observer Time: September 27, 2024
A legend of the British stage and screen, he won two Academy Awards during his career – for The Prime Minister’s Miss Jean Brodie in 1970 and California Suite in 1979.
Four of his other nominations include seven BAFTA awards.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who led the celebration, said Magee was “loved by many for his great talent and has become a national treasure whose work will live on for generations to come.” the future”.
So today here at Observer Time we will discuss and observe the news of Maggie Smith (Prof. Minerva McGonagall).
MAGGIE SMITH DEATH NEWS
In the Harry Potter films, Ms. Maggie Smith is Professor Minerva McGonagall, known for her elaborate wizard hat and great service to the young wizards at Hogwarts.
In ITV’s hit drama Downton Abbey, she played Violet Crawley, Countess of Grantham, a doting mother who delivered one-liners for six series.
Her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin said in a statement: “We are deeply saddened to hear of the death of Dame Maggie Smith.
” She died peacefully in hospital this morning, Friday 27 September.
“He was a very busy man, with his friends and family at the end. He is survived by his two sons and five grandchildren who are deeply saddened by the loss of their mother and grandmother.”
They paid tribute to the “wonderful staff at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their kindness and compassion during his final days”.
They added: “We appreciate all your expressions of love and support and ask that you respect our privacy at this time.”
Hugh Bonneville, who appeared in Downton Abbey, said: “Anyone who presents a show to Maggie Smith will witness her dynamic face, intelligence and amazing talent.
“She was a true legend of her generation and thankfully will live on in so many magnificent screen performances. My condolences to her boys and wider family.”
Dame Maggie Smith also reprised her role for the two Downton Abbey films.
In 2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era, her character died of the illness she revealed at the end of the 2019 film, to the huge upset of her family and friends.
Lesley Nicol, who played Downton Abbey’s cook, Mrs. Patmore, told BBC Radio Ulster: “It’s a very close group of people so we’re all devastated to think she’s not around anymore.”
Downton followed the success of 2002 period drama Gosford Park, which earned Dame Maggie Smith both Oscar and Bafta nominations for playing Dowager Countess of Trentham.
Dame Kristin Scott-Thomas, who starred alongside Dame Maggie Smith in Gosford Park plus 2005’s Keeping Mum and 2014’s My Old Lady, said she “took acting very seriously but saw through the nonsense and razzmatazz”. “He never wanted to do it,” added Dame Christian.
“He was a funny and funny guy who could bring me down to the pit of laughter. And he had no patience for fools. So, you have to be careful. I loved him.
“The last time I saw him, he was amazingly old. ‘Goodbye,’ I think he said. Much loved, admired, and irreplaceable.”
In her speech, Prime Minister Ms. Magee said she “introduced us to new worlds and the many stories she played in her long career”.
“Our thoughts go out to his family and loved ones. May he rest in peace,” she wrote.
A National Theatre spokesperson said her career “spanned the theatrical, film, and television world without equal”.
Praising her stage performances, the statement added: “She will forever be remembered as one of the greatest actors this country has had the inestimable pleasure of witnessing.”
Bafta added that she was a “legend of British stage and screen”, praising her five competitive Bafta wins, plus the special award and fellowship she received from the organization.
Dame Maggie’s Smith career spanned eight decades, with early acclaim coming when she gained her first Bafta nomination for Nowhere to Go in 1958.
In 1963, she was offered the part of Desdemona in Othello at the National Theatre by Laurence Olivier, and two years later it was made into a film and Smith was nominated for her first Oscar.
The actress’s other memorable roles included the 1985 Merchant Ivory film A Room With a View, in which she played the chaperone Charlotte Barlett, accompanying Helena Bonham Carter’s Lucy Honeychurch to Italy.
The role earned her another Oscar nomination and a Bafta.
Along with another national treasure, Dame Judi Dench, she appeared as an English woman living in 1930s Italy in the film Tea with Mussolini, which was released in 1999.
The two dames also shared screen time in A Room With a View and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
Dame Maggie Smith played the firm but fair Reverend Mother in the two Sister Act films, starring Whoopi Goldberg as a nightclub singer who takes refuge from the mob in San Francisco by posing as a nun in a local convent.
Goldberg called Dame Maggie Smith “a great woman and a brilliant actress”, adding: “I still can’t believe I was lucky enough to work with the ‘one-of-a-kind’.
“Rob Lowe, who starred with Dame Maggie Smith in 1993’s Suddenly, Last Summer, recalled “the unforgettable experience of working with her”.
“Separating two marbles is like marrying a lion,” he said.
“He can eat a living person, and often. But it was fun and a good meeting. And he didn’t suffer a fool.
“We don’t see anyone else. Godspeed, Mrs. Smith!”
The veteran actress also played an old lady who lived in a van outside Alan Bennett’s house for 15 years in the author’s 2015 film adaptation of Lady in the Van.
Her latest credits include Club 2023, which follows a group of women from Dublin, Kathy Bates and Laura Linney, who go on tour to Lourdes, France.
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