Maggie Smith's 2 Children: All About Her Sons Chris and Toby

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: Globe Photos/ZUMAPRESS.com ; Alan Davidson/Shutterstock

Dame Maggie Smith, whodied on Sept. 27, 2024, was beloved across generations, especially for her roles as Minerva McGonagall in theHarry Potterfranchise and Violet Crawley inDownton Abbey.

“My parents didn’t particularly encourage me initially. They knew how hard the profession is: just because they’d been successful didn’t mean I would,” he toldTheGuardianin 2013. “They said, ‘You’re on your own.’ I’m really grateful: It made me get out there and hone my taste.”

Here is everything to know about the late Maggie Smith’s two children.

Chris Larkin, 57

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Smith and Stephens' first son, Christopher Larkin Stephens, was born on June 19, 1967.

Like his parents and his younger brother, Chris is also an actor. As he toldThe Timesin 2013, he chose to drop “Stephens” from his stage name to avoid the connection to his famous father — and he wasn’t planning on changing it back. “There are lots of people whose parents are in the business who might be able to say, ‘Yes, I got my big break because of who my parents are.’ Great. The challenge is to sustain it,” he said. “And if you’re not good, you’ll be found out. The job is fairly brutal like that.”

Despite the effort to make his career his own, Chris has been open about the impact both of his parents have had on him as an actor. While speaking toBroadway.comduring the run of the playPack of Liesat London’s Menier Chocolate Factory, he recalled his earliest memory of his mother as an actor. “I remember going with my brother to see mum play the title role inPeter Panat the Coliseum, with Dave Allen as Captain Hook,” he said. “That was during the so-called ‘winter of discontent’ in the early 1970s and I remember mum saying it was freezing because there were power cuts and they had turned off all the heating.”

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The British actor joined the cast ofOutlanderin season 5. He lives in London with his wife, Suki, and their children.

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“I remember my parents being really on me about speaking in a certain way when I was young, I think because they came from a class that aspired to talk like that,” he told theRadio Timesin 2015, perTheTelegraph. He also insisted that his school — Seaford College — was “fairly second rate — it wasn’t Eton.”

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“We both had mixed feelings about doing it, because it’s always a bit of a risk,” he said. “It’s never guaranteed that it’s going to be an easy experience, but it was really lovely to spend some time together.”

source: people.com