Breaking News:Dame Maggie Smith dies aged 89: Beloved Harry Potter and Downton Abbey star passes away in hospital after 70-year acting career – as tributes flood in for ‘one of the greats’

Oscar-winning actress Dame Maggie Smith died in hospital this morning aged 89 after an incredible 70-year acting career.

Her death has sparked an outpouring of grief from fellow thespians and Harry Potter fans around the world, with Huge Bonneville leading tributes to a ‘true legend of her generation’.

The beloved star won over Harry Potter fans later in life, when she appeared in the blockbuster franchise as the quick-witted, kind and formidable Professor McGonagall.

And in 2010 she was central to the success of ITV series Downton Abbey, in her Emmy-award winning role as the acerbic Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, which she continued to play in the films.

Her heartbroken sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, announced her death ‘with great sadness’ in an emotional statement this afternoon.

They paid tribute to their ‘extraordinary’ mother, an ‘intensely private person’ who was ‘with friends and family at the end’.

Born in Ilford, Essex, on December 28, 1934, she was an internationally recognised actress for much of her life after playing the fanatical teacher Jean Brodie in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie.

Her career of more than half a century brought her recognition almost from the beginning, and she received an early Bafta nod for promising newcomer in 1959 for the crime film Nowhere To Go.