Dame Maggie Smith will be remembered by younger fans for her roles in the Harry Potter movies and for Downton Abbey, but had been at the top of the acting profession since the 1960s.

Her early performances were in the 1950s but she claimed the Academy Award for best actress in 1970 for her role in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, playing a seethingly ambitious teacher on a mission to make her girls the “creme de la creme”.

In her later years, her role as the waspish Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey saw her steal many a scene, while her place in the Harry Potter world as Professor Minerva McGonagall is secure.

Black and white head and shoulders shot of Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith (UK/TV Times/PA)
Dame Maggie Smith and Dave Allen
Dame Maggie Smith rehearses for Peter Pan with Dave Allen in 1973 (PA)
Jill Bennett, Tom Jones and Maggie Smith
Jill Bennett, Tom Jones and Maggie Smith (left to right) with awards from the Variety Club of Great Britain in 1969 (PA)

Dame Maggie had learned her trade the hard way with performances in her teenage years at the Oxford Playhouse.

Twice married, she leaves two sons, Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin, who have both chosen to follow an acting career.

Maggie Smith, as Amanda, and Robert Stephens, as Elyot, in the Noel Coward comedy Private Lives
Maggie Smith, as Amanda, and Robert Stephens, as Elyot, in the Noel Coward comedy Private Lives in 1972 (PA)
Maggie Smith in 1966
Maggie Smith in 1966 (PA)
Dame Maggie Smith with the King
The King (then the Prince of Wales) speaks with Dame Maggie Smith at the Prince’s Trust reception at the 2016 Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards (Adam Gerrard/Daily Mirror/PA)
Sheridan Smith, Dame Maggie Smith, Dustin Hoffman and Pauline Collins at the BFI London Film Festival screening of Quartet
Sheridan Smith, Dame Maggie Smith, Dustin Hoffman and Pauline Collins at the BFI London Film Festival screening of Quartet in 2012 (Sean Dempsey/PA)
Dame Maggie Smith (left) and Dame Judi Dench arrive for a screening of Ladies In Lavender
Dame Maggie Smith (left) and Dame Judi Dench arrive for a screening of Ladies In Lavender in 2004 (Ian West/PA)
Dame Maggie Smith and Rupert Grint
Rupert Grint and Maggie Smith arrive for the world premiere of Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince in 2009 (Yui Mok/PA)
Dame Maggie Smith at Westminster Abbey
Dame Maggie Smith during a wreath-laying ceremony in Westminster Abbey in 2007 to mark the centenary of the birth of Sir Laurence Olivier (PA)
Dame Maggie Smith and Paul Schofield
Dame Maggie Smith and Paul Scofield at London’s Hilton Hotel in 1987 where they picked up their awards from the Variety Club of Great Britain (PA)
Dame Maggie Smith on a film set in 2020
Dame Maggie Smith on the set of the film A Boy Called Christmas in London in 2020 (Aaron Chown/PA)
Dame Maggie Smith
Dame Maggie Smith arrives for the premiere of Gosford Park in New York in 2001 (Rich Lee/PA)
Dame Maggie Smith at Wimbledon
Dame Maggie Smith in the royal box at Wimbledon in 2019 (Steven Paston/PA)
Robert Altman and Dame Maggie Smith
Robert Altman and Dame Maggie Smith with her award during the Evening Standard Film Awards 2002 at The Savoy in London (Yui Mok/PA)
Dame Maggie Smith on a stamp
Maggie Smith in Hedda Gabler, 1970 on a Royal Mail stamp (Royal Mail/PA)
Dame Maggie Smith with then PM Tony Blair and Pierce Brosnan
Then prime minister Tony Blair, Dame Maggie Smith and Pierce Brosnan during the Evening Standard Film Awards 2002 at The Savoy in London (PA)
Dame Maggie Smith with the late Queen Elizabeth II
Dame Maggie Smith is made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour by Queen Elizabeth II during an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle in 2014 (Dominic Lipinski/PA)