Remembering Dame Maggie Smith, recipient of the Bodley Medal (2016)

Maggie Smith (Margaret Natalie Smith), actor, born 28 December 1934; died 27 September 2024

The Bodleian Libraries are deeply saddened to learn that the beloved, double-Oscar winning actor, Dame Maggie Smith CH DBE, died on Friday 27 September 2024, aged 89.

Over a career spanning more than seventy years, that earned her awards across theatre, film and television, Dame Maggie became one of the most acclaimed British performers and an undisputed national treasure. Having starred in acclaimed performances from the award-winning adaptation of Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) to Alan Bennett’s The Lady in the Van (2015), and more recently her performances in the Harry Potter series, and Downton Abbey meant that her memory will be cherished across generations.

In 2016, we were delighted to award Dame Maggie the Bodley Medal for her services to the performing arts, acknowledging that she began her career in Oxford, acting in many OUDS performances in the Oxford Playhouse. The same year, she opened our blockbuster exhibition Shakespeare’s Dead, and joined special guests, including Alan Bennett.

Richard Ovenden, Bodley’s Librarian and Head of Gardens, Libraries and Museums at the University of Oxford, said:

Dame Maggie Smith was one of Britain’s greatest actors of modern times. Having begun her acting career in Oxford, working closely with the University’s student dramatic society, she was such a massive talent, and brought such lustre to all of her performances, that she was a worthy recipient of the Bodley Medal, which was presented to her by Lord Patten of Barnes.