There isn’t one right way to describe Maggie Smith. The layered actress was versatile both off and on-screen, and trying to pin down just one of her performances could feel reductive. But how can you honor a person who touched so many lives in so many ways during her lifetime? We know the list of iconic performances by Smith is unending. There is a role that each generation connects her to, and though we millennials could get into an eternal discussion on whether Minerva McGonagall from the Harry Potter saga or Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham from Downton Abbey is more representative, the latter let me say my goodbyes to Smith — albeit indirectly.
With ‘Downton Abbey,’ Maggie Smith Became Part of My Family
Before Harry Potter, I was oblivious to Maggie Smith’s career. In retrospect, I was introduced to her in 1991’s Hook, when she played a gracefully-aged Wendy Darling — but it wasn’t until ten years later, with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, that she made an impact that would last forever. When reading the books, I didn’t quite place a face on Professor McGonagall but, upon seeing Smith in the film, I felt enlightened. I’d never see the character as anyone else ever again. As Minerva McGonagall, Smith was stern but caring and reserved but quietly cheerful, with her portrayal being a standout of the Wizarding World. At that moment, I thought Professor McGonagall was the role of Smith’s lifetime, but boy, was I wrong.
I didn’t get to watch Downton Abbey until the series was in its third season. After years of not having a TV show to binge-watch together, it brought my mom and me together again. Upon witnessing Smith as Violet Crawley, we were blown away. She might not have had a wand or the ability to turn into a cat in that series, but Smith’s Violet was even fiercer and braver through her wit. The Dowager Countess was the eldest character in the show, but that didn’t mean she was a passive presence. Conversely, she was the heart of Downton Abbey and the pillar of the Crawleys. Her impact can still be felt, and she became my mother’s role model as the matriarch of our family.
I Was Able To Say Goodbye to Maggie Smith in ‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’
Sadly for fans, Downton Abbey didn’t last forever. Still, creator Julian Fellowes found a way to bring the Crawleys and crew back for two films – with a third on the way. The second feature film, however, 2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era, foreshadows Violet’s death, with the event happening in the movie’s last moments. Never losing her wit, the Dowager Countess apologizes to her daughter-in-law Cora (Elizabeth McGovern), teases cousin Maud (Imelda Staunton) about being there to make sure she dies, and even jokingly asks her maid Denker (Sue Johnston) to stop crying because she can’t hear herself die — which end up being Violet’s last words before she parts from this world.
To have Violet’s dying words leave you with a laugh is bittersweet, but it remained faithfully true to her character. Sometimes fiction meets reality, and given how comfortable Smith was with playing Violet, it might be safe to say they were often one and the same. Now, with Smith’s passing, I’d like to think Violet’s death in the Downton Abbey film was the way for me to say goodbye to a woman who marked our lives with each one of her roles.
I’d always known someday I’d wake up to the news of Smith’s passing – and it happened today. When I watched her death for the first time on the big screen in Downton Abbey: A New Era, I couldn’t help but feel gut-punched and heartbroken. It felt so real, but it also felt like I was there – like I was being given the chance to say goodbye to Maggie Smith herself. So I find solace in that scene and that moment, and I am thankful for the television and film that we still have to keep her legacy alive.
You can stream Downton Abbey: A New Era on Starz in the U.S.
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