‘Downton Abbey’ creator and writer Julian Fellowes has paid tribute to the late Maggie Smith, who died on Friday aged 89.

While Smith and Fellowes’ most famous collaboration may have been on the luxurious, award-winning historical drama series, in which Smith most notably played the acid-tongued Dowager Countess, the two had worked together several times before. Smith starred in Robert Altman’s 2001 feature film “Gosford Park,” written by Fellowes, who would later direct the legendary actor in the 2009 fantasy drama “From Time to Time.”

“Maggie Smith was a truly wonderful actress and we were more than fortunate to be part of the final act in her amazing career,” Fellowes wrote in a statement to Variety. “She was a joy to write for, subtle, layered, intelligent, funny and heartbreaking. Working with her has been the greatest privilege of my career and I will never forget her.”

Meanwhile, Carnival Films founder Gareth Neame, executive producer of the “Downton Abbey” series and producer of the “Downton Abbey” films, described Smith’s role in the show as “one of the greatest film performances” of all time.

“The entire cast and crew of Downton Abbey felt it was a huge honor to work with her. She was an actress of such stature whose incredible talent could encompass both high comedy and outright tragedy,” he said. “Off screen, she was particularly close to the cast who played the other members of her family and was very generous and full of encouragement to the younger actors.”

Neame added: “It is personally poignant that my late grandfather directed one of her finest performances in ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,’ for which she won her first Academy Award. Jean Brodie and Violet Grantham are just two creations in an extraordinary career that has spanned decades and thrilled audiences around the world. There is only one Maggie Smith and she will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with her family.”

Smith’s critically acclaimed work on ITV and PBS’ ‘Masterpiece’ hit ‘Downton Abbey’, in which she starred in all six seasons and two spin-offs (which ended with her character’s death in the second), came to a close of what had happened. has had a stellar career on stage and screen, amassing a new legion of fans in her late 70s. For the role of the Dowager Countess, she won two Emmys and was nominated for two more, contributing to a string of awards, including two Oscars.