Harry Potter Professor McGonagall star Dame Maggie Smith dies aged 89

Dame Maggie Smith, best known for her role as Professor McGonagall in the film adaptation of the Harry Potter books has died aged 89.

A statement from her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin said: "It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith.

"She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday, 27th September. An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end. She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.

"We would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their care and unstinting kindness during her final days.

"We thank you for all your kind messages and support and ask that you respect our privacy at this time."

The actress was famous for bringing characters beloved from literature alive on-screen, having played the title role in the 1969 film adaptation of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark.

Smith also starred alongside Judi Dench and Bill Nighy in the film adaptation of Deborah Moggach’s These Foolish Things (Vintage), which became The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011).

Smith and Dench also worked together on Merchant Ivory’s adaptation of E. M Forster’s A Room With A View in 1986.

She also appeared in Alan Bennett’s comedy drama The Lady in the Van (2015), having first portrayed the title character on stage in 1999 and then later in a 2009 Radio 4 play adaptation.

Smith was born in 1934 and grew up in Oxford. She started her acting career as a teenager performing at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952.

Notably she appeared in Bamber Gascoigne’s 1957 musical comedy Share My Lettuce opposite Kenneth Williams. She joined the brand new National Theatre in the early 1960s and appeared in a string of productions. She also made a splash across the pond, receiving Tony Award nominations for her Broadway performances of Noël Coward’s Private Lives in 1975 and Tom Stoppard’s Night and Day 1979.