Maggie Smith tributes: JK Rowling, Harry Potter and Downton Abbey co-stars pay respect to acting legend
JK Rowling says she thought the Oscar-winner would ‘live forever’, while ‘Downton Abbey’ co-star Hugh Bonneville cals her a ‘true legend’
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Your support makes all the difference.Dame Maggie Smith’s Downton Abbey co-star Hugh Bonneville and Harry Potter co-star Bonnie Wright have led tributes to the iconic actor after she died at the age of 89.
Bonneville, who starred alongside Dame Maggie in the ITV drama, remembered her as a “true legend of her generation” who had “sharp wit and formidable talent”.
Wright, who played Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter film franchise, recalled her favorite scene with Smith being “when we were all learning to dance for the Yule Ball” in the fourth movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Her sons Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens announced on Friday the Oscar-winning actress had died in Chelsea and Westminster hospital.
A statement from her children said: “She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27 September. An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end.
“She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.”
“We would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful staff at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for their care and unstinting kindness during her final days.
“We thank you for all your kind messages and support and ask that you respect our privacy at this time.”
Daniel Radcliffe shares heartfelt tribute to Harry Potter co-star Maggie Smith
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Maggie Smith shared brilliantly blunt reason she never watched Downton Abbey before her death
Maggie Smith recalls most bizarre Harry Potter question she was asked in resurfaced clip
‘One Tree Hill’ actor Sophia Bush says: ‘May we all be a little more like Maggie'
On Instagram, One Tree Hill and Chicago PD star Sophia Bush shared a quotation of Smith’s: “It’s true that I don’t tolerate fools - but then, they don’t tolerate me.”
Bush added her own caption: “What a legend. May we all be a little more like Maggie.”
Sir Keir Starmer remembers ‘true national treasure’
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has paid tribute to Dame Maggie Smith as a “true national treasure” after her death aged 89.
Writing on X, he said: “Dame Maggie Smith introduced us to new worlds with the countless stories she acted over her long career.
“She was beloved by so many for her great talent, becoming a true national treasure whose work will be cherished for generations to come. Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones. May she rest in peace.”
Dame Maggie received Bafta nod in 1959
Dame Maggie’s 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.
This was followed by Bafta nominations 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, Gosford Park in 2002, and The Lady In The Van in 2016.
She also 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 Violet dies.
Harry Potter creator JK Rowling says she thought Smith would ‘live forever'
JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter book series, has paid her own tribute to Dame Maggie Smith on social media.
Smith appeared in all but one of the Harry Potter films as Professor Minerva McGonagall, the head of Gryffindor House and the deputy headmistress at Hogwarts under Albus Dumbledore.
“Somehow I thought she’d live forever,” wrote Rowling. “RIP Dame Maggie Smith.”
Bafta remembers Dame Maggie as ‘legend’
The British Academy Film Awards has remembered Dame Maggie Smith as a “legend” of British cinema after she passed away aged 89 on Friday.
Writing on X, Bafta said: “We’re saddened to hear that actor Dame Maggie Smith, best known for the Harry Potter films and Downton Abbey, has died at the age of 89.
“Dame Maggie was a legend of British stage and screen, winning five Bafta’s as well as a Bafta Special Award and Bafta Fellowship during her highly acclaimed career.”
Maggie Smith shared brilliantly blunt reason she never watched Downton Abbey before her death
Dame Maggie Smith was often open about having never seen her performance as the Dowager Countess of Grantham in ITV’s hit period drama, Downton Abbey.
So open, in fact, that she once shared a hilariously blunt reason as to why she had never watched the series.
Read more:
Icon of British film and television famously admitted to having never seen the ITV period drama
Maggie Smith called ‘one of the greats’ as hilarious Harry Potter story goes viral after her death
An amusing Dame Maggie Smith anecdote about Harry Potter and Downton Abbey fans recognising her in public has resurfaced following her death, aged 89.
Smith who played Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter series, told Norton in 2015 that she used to get noticed by a lot of “small people who said hello, which was nice”.
“A whole different lot of people know me because of it. It was like I’d never existed before,” she added. “One child asked me, ‘Were you really once a cat?’ and I heard myself say, ‘Pull yourself together, how could I have been!’”
Read more:
‘It’s only since Downton that people seem to recognise me,’ the star once admitted
The View hosts pause show to pay tribute to ‘brilliant’ Maggie Smith
Whoopi Goldberg’s fellow The View co-hosts stepped in to pay tribute to her former Sister Act co-star Maggie Smith on the latest episode of the daytime talk show.
Read more:
Smith starred alongside ‘The View’ co-host Whoopi Goldberg in the Sister Act film series
Whoopi Goldberg shares Sister Act throwback in tribute to co-star Maggie Smith: ‘One of a kind’
Whoopi Goldberg has paid tribute to her Sister Act co-star Dame Maggie Smith following her death at the age of 89.
Smith played Reverend Mother Superior in the hit 1992 comedy that starred Goldberg as a lounge singer who goes into witness protection in a convent.
On Instagram, Goldberg wrote: “Maggie Smith was a great woman and a brilliant actress. I still can’t believe I was lucky enough to work with the ‘one-of-a-kind’.
“My heartfelt condolences go out to the family... RIP.”
Read more:
Goldberg remembered the late actor as ‘a great woman and a brilliant actress’
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