'Downton Abbey' star pays tribute to late Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith, a towering figure in the arts, portrayed Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey. In the show, her co-star Elizabeth McGovern paid tribute to her in the latest interview.

The actress played Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, in the historical drama, as she is set to appear in Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, a third film in the franchise without the late star. 

She said, "I thought it would be absolutely horrible. I think a lot of the actors were really frightened of the idea, but the funny thing is I felt like she was there."

"I felt like her spirit was in the air, in that house and in those rooms, that I didn't miss her as much as I thought I would," the actress noted.

Similarly, Judi Dench previously remembered her late friend in an interview with the BBC with a sweet gesture of planting a tree in her name.

“Joe, who works for me, came in and he had one little crab apple,” the 007 star told the outlet, adding it started to produce fruit at the time of her funeral, as she died on Sept 27, 2024. She was 89.

“And so I had it in my pocket at her funeral, which was a very nice thing to have,” she noted about the Harry Potter alum, with whom she first met at Old Vic theatre's dressing room in 1957.

Also, Judi and Maggie both appeared in films such as the 1984 film A Private Function, 1985’s A Room With a View, 1999’s Tea With Mussolini, 2004’s Ladies in Lavender, 2011’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its 2015 sequel The Second Best Marigold Hotel.