British actress Maggie Smith dies at 89

Actress Maggie Smith, who won two Oscars in the 1970s and is well known to new generations of viewers for her roles as the Dowager Countess of Grantham in "Downton Abbey" and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the "Harry Potter" films, died Friday at age 89.

The masterful British actress' sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, said in a statement that Smith died early Friday morning in a London hospital.

"She died peacefully, in hospital, early this morning," her sons announced. "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," they added.

Smith won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1969 for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and the award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in "California Suite" in 1978. Throughout her career, she had four other Oscar nominations and received eight BAFTA awards from the British Academy.

From the beginnings of her career in British theaters in the 1950s to her unforgettable roles in the "Harry Potter" saga, Maggie Smith will go down in history as one of the most important actresses in the history of cinema.