Dame Maggie Smith: King and Prime Minister pay tribute to ‘national treasure’

Dame Maggie reprized her role in the two Downton Abbey films. In 2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era, her character died from the illness she revealed at the end of the 2019 film.

Co-star Dame Harriet Walter said on BBC Radio 4’s PM program that she excelled in both comedy and drama.

“She was a real comedian, but I also saw her play some incredibly heartfelt, deep and sad roles, which is the breadth of an actress like her,” she said.

“If she had been just funny or just tragic, she wouldn’t have made quite the impression.”

Michelle Dockery, who played Dame Maggie’s on-screen granddaughter Lady Mary Crawley, told the BBC: “There was no one like Maggie.”

“I am very lucky to have met such an outsider. She will be missed very much and my thoughts are with her family.”

Lesley Nicol, who played Downton Abbey chef Mrs Patmore, told BBC Radio Ulster: “It’s a very close group of people so we’re all devastated to think they’re no longer there is.”

Downton Abbey creator and writer Julian Fellowes told Variety magazine., external she was “a joy to write for, subtle, complex, intelligent, funny and heartbreaking.”

Downton followed on from the success of the 2002 period drama Gosford Park, which earned Dame Maggie both Oscar and Bafta nominations for the role of the Dowager Countess of Trentham.