- Salah happy wherever career ends after inspiring Liverpool rout
- Three and easy as Dortmund move into Bundesliga top six
- Liverpool hit Spurs for six, Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth
- Netanyahu vows to act with 'force, determination' against Yemen's Huthis
- Ali hat-trick helps champions Ahly crush Belouizdad
- Salah stars as rampant Liverpool hit Spurs for six
- Syria's new leader says all weapons to come under 'state control'
- 'Sonic 3' zips to top of N.America box office
- Rome's Trevi Fountain reopens to limited crowds
- Mbappe strikes as Real Madrid down Sevilla
- Pope again condemns 'cruelty' of Israeli strikes on Gaza
- Lonely this Christmas: Vendee skippers in low-key celebrations on high seas
- Troubled Man Utd humiliated by Bournemouth
- 2 US pilots shot down over Red Sea in 'friendly fire' incident: military
- Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth, Chelsea held at Everton
- France awaits fourth government of the year
- Death toll in Brazil bus crash rises to 41
- Odermatt stays hot to break Swiss World Cup wins record
- Neville says Rashford's career at Man Utd nearing 'inevitable ending'
- Syria's new leader vows not to negatively interfere in Lebanon
- Germany pledges security inquest after Christmas market attack
- Putin vows 'destruction' on Ukraine after Kazan drone attack
- Understated Usyk seeks recognition among boxing legends
- France awaits appointment of new government
- Cyclone Chido death toll rises to 94 in Mozambique
- Stokes out of England's Champions Trophy squad
- Gaza rescuers say Israeli strikes kill 28
- Sweet smell of success for niche perfumes
- 'Finally, we made it!': Ho Chi Minh City celebrates first metro
- Angry questions in Germany after Christmas market attack
- China's Zheng pulls out of season-opening United Cup
- Minorities fear targeted attacks in post-revolution Bangladesh
- Tatum's 43-point triple-double propels Celtics over Bulls
- Tunisia women herb harvesters struggle with drought and heat
- Trump threatens to take back control of Panama Canal
- India's architecture fans guard Mumbai's Art Deco past
- Secretive game developer codes hit 'Balatro' in Canadian prairie province
- Large earthquake hits battered Vanuatu
- Beaten Fury says Usyk got 'Christmas gift' from judges
- First Singaporean golfer at Masters hopes 'not be in awe' of heroes
- Usyk beats Fury in heavyweight championship rematch
- Stellantis backtracks on plan to lay off 1,100 at US Jeep plant
- Atletico snatch late win at Barca to top La Liga
- Australian teen Konstas ready for Indian pace challenge
- Strong quake strikes off battered Vanuatu
- Tiger Woods and son Charlie share halfway lead in family event
- Bath stay out in front in Premiership as Bristol secure record win
- Mahomes shines as NFL-best Chiefs beat Texans to reach 14-1
- Suspect in deadly Christmas market attack railed against Islam, Germany
- MLB legend Henderson, career stolen base leader, dead at 65
'National treasure' Maggie Smith dies aged 89
Oscar-winning British actor Maggie Smith, a star of stage and screen for more than seven decades, died in hospital in London on Friday, her sons announced, prompting a flood of tributes led by King Charles III.
"It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith. She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning," Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens said in a statement.
During the course of her career, Smith who won a Tony, two Oscars, three Golden Globes and five Baftas.
And she achieved late-career international fame for her depiction of the acerbic Dowager Countess of Grantham Violet Crawley in the hit television series "Downton Abbey".
Britain's head of state Charles called her "a national treasure" who was admired around the world.
He also paid tribute to her "warmth and wit that shone through both on and off the stage", posting a photograph of him sharing a joke with the actress.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer also called her a "true national treasure" while the Bafta TV and film academy saluted "a legend of British stage and screen".
Born in 1934 in Oxford in central England, the daughter of an Oxford professor of pathology, Smith made her stage debut in 1952 with the Oxford University Dramatic Society.
She won a best actress Oscar for the 1969 drama "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" based on Muriel Spark's novel, and best supporting actress for her role in the 1978 Neil Simon comedy "California Suite".
"An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end," her sons, both actors, said.
"She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother," they said, adding their thanks for all the "kind messages and support" they had received.
- 'One-of-a-kind' -
Famed for her scene-stealing charisma, Smith's long and successful career got started with a string of successes in London's West End and on Broadway in the 1950s.
She famously appeared opposite Laurence Olivier in an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Othello" in 1959.
This led to her joining Olivier's celebrated 1960s National Theatre company where she earned critical acclaim alongside her husband, the actor Robert Stephens.
Smith's marriage to heavy-drinking Stephens, with whom she had her two sons, collapsed in 1973 and they divorced two years later.
She remarried shortly after to the screenwriter Beverley Cross, who died in 1998.
Despite her serious acting reputation, Smith also appeared in lighter Hollywood hits such as 1992's "Sister Act", and 1993 sequel "Sister Act 2".
Whoopi Goldberg, the lead actress in both films, wrote on Instagram that "Maggie Smith was a great woman and a brilliant actress.
"I still can't believe I was lucky enough to work with the 'one-of-a-kind'," she added.
- 'Great genius' -
In recent decades, some of her best known films included "Gosford Park" (2001), "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" (2012) and "The Lady in the Van" (2015).
Her work on the wildly popular "Downton Abbey" and the "Harry Potter" films also introduced her to a younger generation.
Such was the appeal of "Downton Abbey" she said in 2017 she could no longer go out without being recognised.
"It's ridiculous -- I led a perfectly normal life until Downton Abbey," she told the British Film Institute.
"I would go to theatres, I would go to galleries and things like that on my own. And now I can't," she said.
Julian Fellowes, creator and writer of Downton Abbey, said Smith had a "marvellous instinctive grasp, she could make you cry your eyes out one minute and laugh like a drain the next without turning into someone different.
"I realised I was working with a great genius," he added.
Actor Hugh Bonneville, who played the son of the dowager duchess in the period drama, said: "Anyone who ever shared a scene with Maggie will attest to her sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable talent.
"She was a true legend of her generation and thankfully will live on in so many magnificent screen performances. My condolences to her boys and wider family."
Smith was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1990 by Queen Elizabeth II.
J.Pereira--PC