Toby Stephens<\/a>. <\/p>\nHer total estate was valued at \u00a316,003,613 before debts and expenses of just over \u00a326,000 were deducted.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Maggie also left Douglas Lake Farm, her five-bedroom farmhouse in Fittleworth, West Sussex, to a family trust she established with Chris and Toby in 2019.<\/p>\n
\nThe secluded property, where Maggie raised her sons and lived for more than four decades, includes barns, a stable and a vineyard.<\/p>\n
\nMaggie\u2019s will also made separate provisions for copyrights, royalties and unpublished works she inherited from her second husband, playwright Beverley Cross, who died aged 66 in 1998.<\/p>\n
\nThose proceeds are to be divided equally between Beverley\u2019s daughter Philippa Maughan, his son Shaun Cross and Maggie\u2019s sons Chris and Toby. <\/p>\n
\nMaggie had signed the will in 1996, when Beverley was still alive and named as its principal beneficiary.<\/p>\n
\nThe actress had previously been married to actor Robert Stephens, the father of Chris and Toby. <\/p>\n
\nRobert died aged 64 in 1995.<\/p>\n
\nMaggie\u2019s fortune followed an extraordinary career across theater, television and film which brought her two Academy Awards, seven Baftas, four Emmys, three Golden Globes and a Tony Award.<\/p>\n
\nShe won her first Oscar for playing the formidable Edinburgh schoolteacher Jean Brodie in 1969\u2019s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, before receiving her second Academy Award for California Suite. <\/p>\n
\nHer other celebrated films included A Room with a View, Gosford Park, The Lady in the Van and Sister Act.<\/p>\n
\nFor younger audiences, Maggie became synonymous with Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, appearing alongside Daniel Radcliffe as the Hogwarts professor and head of Gryffindor House.<\/p>\n
\nFollowing Maggie\u2019s death, Daniel said: \u201cI will always consider myself amazingly lucky to have been able to work with her, and to spend time around her on set. The word legend is overused but if it applies to anyone in our industry then it applies to her. Thank you Maggie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMaggie also found a new global television audience as the acid-tongued Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, in Downton Abbey. <\/p>\n
\nShe played Violet throughout the ITV series and returned for the first two feature films, winning three Emmys for the role.<\/p>\n
\nHer absence was subsequently felt in Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, released in 2025, in which Violet\u2019s memory remained part of the story after the character\u2019s death in the previous film.<\/p>\n
\nHugh Bonneville, who played Violet\u2019s son Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, paid tribute following Maggie\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
\nHe said: \u201cAnyone who ever shared a scene with Maggie will attest to her sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable talent.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cShe was a true legend of her generation and thankfully will live on in so many magnificent screen performances.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nKing Charles, 77, and Queen Camilla, 79, also issued a tribute, describing Maggie as a \u201cnational treasure\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nThey said: \u201cAs the curtain comes down on a national treasure, we join all those around the world in remembering with the fondest admiration and affection her many great performances, and her warmth and wit that shone through both off and on the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMaggie\u2019s sons announced her death in a statement through her publicist.<\/p>\n
\nThey said: \u201cAn intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cShe leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nDespite the enormous popularity of Harry Potter and Downton Abbey, Maggie was characteristically understated about the two projects when discussing them in 2019.<\/p>\n
\nShe said: \u201cIt wasn\u2019t what you\u2019d call satisfying. I didn\u2019t really feel I was acting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMaggie once summed up her decades-long career with equal brevity, saying: \u201cOne went to school, one wanted to act, one started to act and one\u2019s still acting.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"26 August 2026 Dame Maggie Smith left a fortune of almost \u00a316 million to her two actor sons following her death. Dame Maggie Smith left a fortune of almost \u00a316 million to her two actor sons following her death Newly published probate records reveal how the Harry Potter and Downton Abbey star divided her estate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":259613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[16613,9826,9710,1219,1786,244,16614,135,16616,16615,9827],"class_list":{"0":"post-259612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-beverley-cross","9":"tag-chris-larkin","10":"tag-dame-maggie-smith","11":"tag-daniel-radcliffe","12":"tag-hugh-bonneville","13":"tag-king-charles","14":"tag-philippa-maughan","15":"tag-queen-camilla","16":"tag-robert-stephens","17":"tag-shaun-cross","18":"tag-toby-stephens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}