Maggie Smith, the two-time Oscar-winning actress best known for her role in the Harry Potter films, passed away at 89. Theatre and film were always her priorities, but that didn’t stop her from giving us several amazing TV roles over the years, winning four Emmys along the way.
My House in Umbria
Smith starred in several made-for-television movies over the years, but My House in Umbria made the biggest splash. It won her her first Emmy Award, helping her secure the Triple Crown of Acting. She played an eccentric romance novelist running a guest house in Italy, who finds solace in an unlikely group of people after surviving a terrorist attack on a train to Milan.
Downton Abbey
Smith put her dry wit on full display while playing the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley in the hit period drama Downton Abbey. She won three Emmys for her brilliant portrayal of the formidable matriarch of the Crawley family, and later reprised her role in the two Downton Abbey films.
David Copperfield
Smith also received an Emmy nomination for BBC’s two-part adaptation of Charles Dickens’s novel David Copperfield from the early 2000s. Daniel Radcliffe made his acting debut in this mini-series, and Smith was so impressed by the young actor that she vouched for him when he auditioned for Harry Potter.
