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Throwback: When Harry Potter Director Chris Columbus Said Maggie Smith Was 'Exactly' Who They Needed Minerva McGonagall To Be
Maggie Smith, who rose to fame with her roles in the film series Harry Potter and TV drama Downton Abbey, passed away on September 27, 2024.
TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains references to an individual's death.
British actress Dame Maggie Smith passed away on Friday, September 27, at the age of 89, leaving a profound grief in the hearts of all Potterheads. The late Dame Maggie Smith's career in theater, cinema, and television was extensive. However, she is best known to a whole generation of fans for playing the stern but just Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter universe.
From 2001 to 2011, Smith portrayed the enchanted McGonagall in all eight Harry Potter films. In 2015, Smith told British TV broadcaster Graham Norton that playing McGonagall had a profound impact on her life because "a lot of very small people kind of used to say hello to me and that was nice." a very distinct group of people."
When casting the first Harry Potter movie, director Chris Columbus was immediately drawn to Smith because of her combination of stature and tenderness. Columbus, the director of the first two Harry Potter films, considered "what we needed" from McGonagall in a YouTube video from the early 2000s.
He remarked, "Someone who had a real sense of warmth and heart, but someone you were intimidated by. And that's exactly Maggie. And I thought, this is perfect for McGonagall."
Columbus recalled a particularly powerful sequence from one of the character's early appearances. "You meet her in the beginning of the film, she's in the scene where they're walking up the stairs, and she was intimidating. She was intimidating to the crew because she's so smart; she's so brilliant."
Smith passed away on September 27, 2024, aged 89. Beyond Harry Potter, the actress was famous for her parts as Violet Crawley in the Downton Abbey television series, as well as her Oscar-winning performances in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and California Suite (1978). The actress received a Tony Award for Lettice and Lovage in 1990. Her contribution to the performing arts earned her the honor of dame from Queen Elizabeth II in the same year.
ALSO READ: King Charles Mourns The Loss Of 'National Treasure' Dame Maggie Smith; Says He Is 'Deeply Saddened'
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