Maggie Smith tributes: JK Rowling, Harry Potter and Downton Abbey co-stars pay respect to acting legend

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.”

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’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.

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.”

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.”

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.

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Icon of British film and television famously admitted to having never seen the ITV period drama

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!’”

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Maggie Smith called ‘one of the greats’ as hilarious Harry Potter story goes viral after her death

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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.

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The View hosts pause show to pay tribute to ‘brilliant’ Maggie Smith

Smith starred alongside ‘The View’ co-host Whoopi Goldberg in the Sister Act film series

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:

Whoopi Goldberg shares Sister Act throwback in tribute to co-star Maggie Smith: ‘One of a kind’

Goldberg remembered the late actor as ‘a great woman and a brilliant actress’