British actress, Maggie Smith dies at 89

British actor Maggie Smith has passed away at the age of 89.

The talented star of stage and screen for more than seven decades died in a hospital in London on Friday, her sons announced.

Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens said in a statement.“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,” Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens said in a statement.

Smith, a British cinema and stage star who won a Tony, two Oscars, three Golden Globes, and five Baftas, rose to international prominence with her late-career portrayal as the Dowager Countess of Grantham Violet Crawley in the hit television series "Downton Abbey".

Smith, the daughter of an Oxford pathology professor, debuted on stage with the Oxford University Dramatic Society in 1952.

She won Best Actress at the 1969 Oscars for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Desdemona in "Othello" that same year.

She portrayed Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies.

“An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end,” her sons said. “She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother,” they said, adding their thanks for all the “kind messages and support” they had received.