The cast members of Harry Potter film franchise have paid tribute to Dame Maggy Smith aka Professor Minerva McGonagall who passed away on September 27. Daniel Radcliffe, who portrayed the titular character in all eight instalments, recalled working with the late actress. Before Harry Potter, they worked together on David Copperfield, which was Daniel’s first job. The actor said, “The first time I met Maggie Smith I was 9 years old, and we were reading through scenes for David Copperfield, which was my first job. I knew virtually nothing about her other than that my parents were awestruck at the fact that I would be working with her.”
He continued, “The other thing I knew about her was that she was a Dame, so the first thing I asked her when we met was ‘would you like me to call you Dame?”‘ at which she laughed and said something to the effect of ‘don’t be ridiculous!’. I remember feeling nervous to meet her and then her putting me immediately at ease.”
Emma Watson, who essayed the role of Hermione Granger, shared a screenshot from one of the scenes and wrote, “When I was younger I had no idea of Maggie’s legend – the woman I was fortunate enough to share space with. It is only as I’ve become an adult that I’ve come to appreciate that I shared the screen with a true definition of greatness. She was real, honest, funny and self-honouring. Maggie, there were a lot of male professors and by God, you held your own. Thank you for all of your kindness. I’ll miss you.” Completing the trio, Rupert Grint aka Ron Weasley, too, penned an emotional tribute to Professor McGonagall.
Tom Felton, who portrayed the character of Draco Malfoy shared a photo from the first instalment of Harry Potter and thanked Smith for “looking after us from literally day one.”
Besides them, several other characters from Harry Potter, too, paid tribute to the iconic actress. Bonnie Wright, who essayed the character of Ginny Weasley wrote, “Our dearly loved and revered head of Gryffindor house you will be so missed by the Harry Potter community.”
Gary Oldman wrote that her kind of talent “comes along about every other generation.”
Smith is said to be among the 14 actresses to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting winning the highest accolades for film, television and theatre. Besides the Harry Potter film franchise, some of her most notable works include Downton Abbey, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and My House in Umbria, among others.
