"A legend"

“Harry Potter” stars pay tribute to Maggie Smith

Daniel Radcliffe also mourns the loss of "Harry Potter" co-star Maggie Smith.(Bild: Copyright © ©Warner Bros / Everett Collection)

The young stars of the "Harry Potter" film adaptations look back fondly on filming alongside the late British actress Maggie Smith. 

When she was younger, she had no idea what a legend Smith was, wrote actress Emma Watson (34), who played wizard student Hermione Granger in the films, on Instagram.

Dance with Smith as a special honor
"It wasn't until I was an adult that I came to appreciate that I shared the screen with a true definition of greatness."

Emma Watson shared moving words of farewell to Maggie Smith in her Instagram story.(Bild: instagram.com/emmawatson)

Maggie Smith was "so special, always funny and always kind", actor Rupert Grint explained on the social network. He considers himself incredibly lucky to have filmed with her and especially to have danced with her, the 36-year-old wrote.

He also posted a photo showing the two of them dancing in their roles as Professor Minerva McGonagall and Ron Weasley in a scene from the 2005 film "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire".

"She was extremely funny"
Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe (35) also paid tribute to the two-time Oscar winner, who died on Friday at the age of 89. In a statement to the PA news agency, he described his fellow actress, who was more than five decades older, saying: "She had a sharp mind, a gloriously sharp tongue, could intimidate and charm in the same moment and, as anyone will tell you, was extremely funny."

The word "legend" is generally overused - but if it applies to one person in the film industry, then it applies to Maggie Smith.

Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling also had warm words for her. "Somehow I thought she would live forever. Rest in peace, Dame Maggie Smith," wrote the author on the online platform X.