From Harry Potter Cast, Touching Tributes For 'Professor McGonagall' Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith Death: Maggie Smith, the British actress won an Oscar for the 1969 film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and gained new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, died Friday. She was 89. Smith’s sons, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, said in a statement that Smith died early Friday in a London hospital.

Tributes poured in from the cast of Harry Potter, who remembered Smith's contributions on the set as an actor and her gentle nature off camera.

'Harry Potter' Danielle Radcliffe recalls first meeting with Maggie Smith

Danielle Radcliffe, who starred as the titular character in all eight Harry Potter films, remembered his co-star Maggie Smith as an artist with with a "fierce intellect and a gloriously sharp tongue". Smith’s role in “Harry Potter” started with 2001’s “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and lasted a decade.

"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,” Radcliffe said in a statement.

“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. She was incredibly kind to me on that shoot, and then I was lucky enough to go on working with her for another 10 years on the Harry Potter’ films,” Radcliffe further shared.

'Hermione' Emma Watson remembers Maggie Smith

Emma Watson, who essayed the role of  Hermione Granger in Harry Potter films posted a tribute for Maggie Smith on social media, which read, "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.

Watson accompanied the message with a BTS photo from Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban. Author of Harry Potter book series, JK Rowling posted on X, “Somehow I thought she'd live forever. RIP Dame Maggie Smith.”