Sitting outside one of her favourite London restaurants in the warm early Autumn sunshine, this is Dame Maggie Smith just a week before she died.
Her family, friends and fans are still mourning the passing of one of world’s greatest ever actresses who passed away at the age of 89 in hospital last Friday.
But MailOnline can reveal that just seven days earlier Dame Maggie was on roaring form during a lunch at Lemonia restaurant in Primrose Hill, where she was a regular.
The Harry Potter and Downton Abbey star, fashionably dressed in a loose blue shirt and trousers, ordered fish and chips as she chatted with a female friend at a small table outside.
The titan of the acting world, famously described by friends as drinking like a fish and swearing like a trooper, was also spotted perusing the wine menu.Â
Dame Maggie Smith pictured perusing the menu with a friend outside one of her favourite restaurants in Primrose Hill
Dame Maggie had a piece of fish while dining al fresco at Lemonia, a Greek restaurant close to Regent’s ParkÂ
And an insider revealed that at one point she ‘slipped into character’ and ticked off some teenagers who were laughing noisily as they loitered outside.
‘Dame Maggie asked them be quiet and be more respectful whilst people were eating’, the witness on another table said.
‘She was very much in character’, they added, admitting it was a thrill because it was like seeing Professor McGonagall or the Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey in real life.
Maggie spent more than an hour on her lunch out.Â
‘She had fish and chips’, the witness also sat outside Lemonia told MailOnline ‘My mate laughed that she’d ordered it at a Greek restaurant’, adding it was clearly her favourite order.
Seven days later her family announced she had died.Â
With a career spanning 70 years, the Oscar-winning actress has been remembered for her versatile repertoire ranging from Shakespeare to the Harry Potter franchise, with co-stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint among those to pay tribute to her.
Lord Fellowes, who first worked with Dame Maggie on the Oscar-winning period drama Gosford Park before creating Downton Abbey, recalled the ‘extraordinary precision’ she had in her work.
Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the Potter movies, thanked Dame Maggie for looking out for the cast of young actors from day one of filming and for ‘showing us the way’, adding: ‘There quite simply was no one like her.’
Dame Maggie Smith played the Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey and Minerva McGonagall in Harry Potter in later years
Dame Maggie had multiple Olivier Award wins having appeared in the National Theatre’s debut season in 1963, with tributes from the world of theatre remembering her greatness on the stage.
British theatre owner and producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh said she was the ‘master of the zinger’ while the National Theatre’s Rufus Norris said her ‘sublime craft and sharp wit were simply legendary’.
Born in Ilford, east London, on December 28 1934, Dame Maggie was an internationally recognised actress for much of her life after playing the fanatical teacher Jean Brodie in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie.
Her career of more than half a century brought her recognition almost from the beginning and she received an early Bafta nod for promising newcomer in 1959 for the crime film Nowhere To Go.
More Bafta nominations followed for Young Cassidy in 1966, Death On The Nile in 1979, California Suite in 1980, Quartet in 1982, The Secret Garden in 1994, Tea With Mussolini in 2000 and The Lady In The Van in 2016.
She won best actress gongs for The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, A Private Function and The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne.
Her final roles included The Miracle Club, which follows a group of women from Dublin who go on a pilgrimage to the French town of Lourdes, and 2022’s Downton Abbey: A New Era, in which her character Violet dies.
She was made a dame in 1990 and her array of accolades include a fellowship and a special award from Bafta, as well as becoming a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2014.
She was treated for breast cancer and said in 2009 it had knocked her confidence to the extent that she became afraid of returning to the stage.
Despite this, that year she was in Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince and continued with 2010 adventure film From Time To Time, 2011’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and 2014 drama My Old Lady.
She was nominated for six Oscars, winning best actress in 1970 for her title role in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, and a supporting actress gong in 1979 for comedy California Suite.
