Died at 91
female
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith CH DBE (December 28, 1934 − September 27, 2024) was a British actress. Known for her wit in comedic roles, she had an extensive career on stage and screen over seven decades and was one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actresses. She received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, four Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award as well as nominations for six Laurence Olivier Awards. Smith was one of the few performers to earn the Triple Crown of Acting. Smith began her stage career as a student, performing at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952, and made her professional debut on Broadway in New Faces of '56. Over the following decades Smith established herself alongside Judi Dench as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. On Broadway, she received Tony Award nominations for Noël Coward's Private Lives (1975) and Tom Stoppard's Night and Day (1979), and won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for Lettice and Lovage (1990). She won Academy Awards for Best Actress for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and Best Supporting Actress for California Suite (1978). She was Oscar-nominated for Othello (1965), Travels with My Aunt (1972), A Room with a View (1985) and Gosford Park (2001). She portrayed Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter film series (2001–2011). She also acted in Death on the Nile (1978), Hook (1991), Sister Act (1992), The Secret Garden (1993), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012), Quartet (2012) and The Lady in the Van (2015). Smith received newfound attention and international fame for her role as Violet Crawley in the British period drama Downton Abbey (2010–2015). The role earned her three Primetime Emmy Awards; she had previously won one for the HBO film My House in Umbria (2003). Over the course of her career she was the recipient of numerous honorary awards including the British Film Institute Fellowship in 1993, the BAFTA Fellowship in 1996 and the Society of London Theatre Special Award in 2010. Smith was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990. Description above from the Wikipedia article Maggie Smith, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Maggie Smith
Mrs. Jane Morgan
for Mrs. Jane Morgan in Testimony of Two Men: A Novel
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Testimony of Two Men tells the story of Jonathan Ferrier, a brilliant physician hounded by his tragic past and threatened present. The capricious healer of Hambledon, Dr. Ferrier remains an enigma to all. Even a sympathetic young outsider--Dr. Robert Morgan, fresh from Johns Hopkins--is hard pressed to separate the facts from the lies. But everyone knows that Ferrier’s wife--a girlish and near-legendary beauty named Mavis--died in grisly circumstances. In unraveling Ferrier’s terrible secret, Caldwell brings into play an astonishing range of characters: the lusty, laughing, almost demoniac Mavis, whose memory haunts her husband; Dr. Ferrier’s gentle and indomitable mother, the grande dame of Hambledon; likeable but corrupt brother Harald and silent and brooding “niece” Jenny; and the powerful politicians who plot to destroy the despised doctor. To these men and women, Taylor Caldwell brings compassionate yet cynical observations that culminate in her most accomplished and memorable work of fiction.
