Just over a month after her death, Dame Maggie Smith will be honored on Broadway with the tradition of dimming the marquee lights.
The Harry Potter actress, a two-time Academy Award winner, four-time Emmy Award winner and Tony Award winner, died in late September at the age of 89.
The U.K. native, who also won five BAFTA Awards and was nominated for six Olivier Awards, was honored in her home country by dimming the lights at London’s West End theaters in October.
She will now be honored in New York City, and the Shubert Organization will announce on behalf of all Broadway theater owners that the lights will be dimmed at 6:45 pm on Thursday, November 7.
“Maggie Smith was a singular talent, whose art graced stages and screens with unparalleled depth and wit,” said Robert E. Wankel, president and CEO of the Shubert Organization, on behalf of her fellow theater owners.
Just over a month after her death, Dame Maggie Smith will be honored on Broadway with the tradition of dimming the marquee lights.
She will now be honored in New York City, and the Shubert Organization will announce on behalf of all Broadway theater owners that the lights will be dimmed at 6:45 pm on Thursday, November 7.
“Her legacy as a notable actress and an inspiration to countless artists is indelible,” Wankel continued.
“Broadway joins her fans around the world in mourning her loss and celebrating her remarkable contributions,” he added.
“Our thoughts are with his family, his friends and all those who were touched by his work,” the statement concludes.
The announcement came after the Broadway League’s Broadway Theater Owners Committee sparked controversy over two recent deaths.
The organization announced that blackouts honoring two other actors, Adrian Bailey and Gavin Creel, would only occur in select theaters.
That sparked a huge backlash in the theater community, leading the Committee of Owners to announce blackouts across all theaters for Bailey, Creel and Smith.
The Bailey darkening took place on October 17, although the Homeowners Committee has not yet announced a date for the Creel darkening.
‘In recognition of the passing of several beloved members of the Broadway community in recent weeks, and in honor of their significant impact on that community, the Committee of Theater Owners has announced that they will be dimming the lights at all Broadway theaters in New York in honor of Adrian Bailey, Gavin Creel and Maggie Smith. Additionally, the Committee is reviewing its current mitigation policy and procedures,” the statement reads.
“Her legacy as a notable actress and an inspiration to countless artists is indelible,” Wankel continued.
Smith won her Tony Award in 1990 for Lettice and Lovage and her first Emmy in 2003 for My House in Umbria (above)
The announcement came after the Broadway League’s Broadway Theater Owners Committee sparked controversy over two recent deaths.
Smith was born on December 28, 1934 in Ilford, Essex, and began her acting career as a teenager, making her Broadway debut at just 22 in the revue New Faces of ’56.
She won her first Oscar for Best Actress in 1969 for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and her second in 1978 for Best Supporting Actress in Neil Simon’s California Suite.
Smith won her Tony Award in 1990 for Lettice and Lovage and her first Emmy in 2003 for My House in Umbria.
That Emmy win made her the 15th actress to win the acting Triple Crown: an Academy Award, an Emmy Award and a Tony Award.
