Maggie Smith, renowned as one of the greatest British actors of her generation, passed away on Friday in London at the age of 89. Her celebrated performances spanned from a bold Scottish schoolteacher in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" to the sharp-tongued dowager countess in "Downton Abbey."

 Her death, which occurred in a hospital, was confirmed by her family in a statement from a publicist, although no cause of death was specified.

American audiences were largely unaware of Ms. Smith (now Dame Maggie to her fellow countrymen) when she starred in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1969). The film, set in the 1930s, features a teacher at a girls' school who holds provocative views and has a complicated love life. Vincent Canby of The New York Times praised her performance as "a staggering amalgam of counterpointed moods, switches in voice levels, and obliquely stated emotions, all of which are precisely right," earning her an Academy Award for Best Actress.

She later won a second Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "California Suite" (1978), adapted from Neil Simon’s stage comedy. In this film, she played a British actress attending the Oscars with her bisexual husband (Michael Caine), who experiences both a disappointing ceremony and a bittersweet night.

Ms. Smith’s accolades began in 1962 when she received her first Evening Standard Theater Award. By the early 2000s, she had accumulated two Oscars, a Tony, two Golden Globes, several BAFTAs, and numerous nominations, yet she could often go unnoticed in public.

That changed with "Downton Abbey." The series followed the Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville), his largely aristocratic family, and their troubled household staff in their grand Jacobean mansion, set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing world from 1912 to 1925.