Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is heartbroken over the tragic death of his co-star Dame Maggie Smith. Both starred in the Harry Potter series, where Radcliffe began his acting career. Smith died on Friday at the age of 89 due to long-term health problems.
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Radcliffe mourns Smith’s death
The 35-year-old actor recalled the moment he first learned that Smith was going to be his co-star. “The first time I met Maggie Smith I was 9 years old and we were reading scenes for David Copperfield, which was my first job,” Radcliffe told Page Six in a statement on Friday. He admitted that he was not aware of his co-star or his work at the time. However, Radcliffe’s parents were “surprised” that he would want to work with them in his first film.
He recalled, “The other thing I knew about her was that she was a dame, so the first thing I asked her when we met was, ‘Do you want me to call you Dame?’ To which he replied laughing and said something along the lines of ‘Don’t be stupid’.
The Woman in Black actor recalled that he was “nervous” to meet Smith, but she immediately put him “at ease” with his words and presence. “She was incredibly kind to me on that shoot, and then I was lucky enough to work with her for the next 10 years on the ‘Harry Potter’ films,” he told the media outlet.
He described the Downtown Abbey star as a woman of “sharp intelligence” with a “brilliantly sharp tongue”. Radcliffe added, “[Maggie] Could scare and charm in the same moment and, as anyone will tell you, was extremely funny.”
Radcliffe expressed his gratitude to the late actor, saying, “I will always consider myself incredibly fortunate to have worked with him and to have spent time with him on set. The word legend is used a lot but if it applies to anyone in our industry, it applies to him too. Thanks Maggie.”
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Harry Potter’s beloved Professor Minerva McGonagall
The late actor was a part of all eight Harry Potter parts based on author JK Rowling’s fantasy novels of the same name and played Professor Minerva McGonagall. Her family confirmed that she died “peacefully in hospital”, but the cause of her death was not revealed.
Her sons, Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin, whom she shared with her ex-husband, Robert Stephens, released a statement that read, “It is with great sadness that we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie Smith. An extremely private person, she was with friends and family at the end. He said Smith’s son and five grandchildren are “devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.”
She was famous for her role in Downton Abbey, which earned her three Emmy Awards. He also won two Academy Awards, three Golden Globes, and a Tony Award. In 1990, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Smith a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
