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

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.”

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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’

Although Maggie Smith’s cause of death has not been disclosed, her sons shared that she died peacefully in the hospital surrounded by her friends and family.

Over the years, the legendary actor had been open about the health challenges she faced, including her battle with breast cancer, her Graves’ disease diagnosis, hip replacement surgery and glaucoma.

Breast Cancer

Smith revealed that while she was filming the sixth Harry Potter movie – The Half-Blood Prince – she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I had been feeling a little rum. I didn’t think it was anything serious because years ago I felt a lump and it was benign. I assumed this would be too,” she told The Times in 2009.

For two years, she underwent chemotherapy and radiation to treat her cancer. She was later declared cancer-free.

Graves’ Disease

In 1988, just as she had begun her performance in the Tony-nominated play Lettice and Lovage, Smith was diagnosed with Graves’ disease, a common autoimmune disorder that affects the thyroid gland.

According to a 1990 report by The New York Times: “Medication, and determination enabled her to play out her yearlong contract (missing only one performance), but the facial disfigurement that resulted – protrusion of the eyeballs and puffiness around the eyes, in particular – was not getting better.”

Her diagnosis came shortly after she suffered a broken arm and fractured shoulder from falling off a bicycle.

“It’s been kind of like a fog of despair, really,” she told the publication at the time. “It was ghastly having a broken arm; ghastly with the play, letting everybody down; and on top of that, I looked absolutely frightening, and didn’t know which way to turn.”

Hip Replacement

Smith was reportedly forced to miss the 2016 Golden Globe Awards as she recovered from hip replacement surgery. She had been nominated for her lead performance in the comedy-drama The Lady in the Van.

Glaucoma

In a 2016 interview with The Telegraph, Smith confirmed she was partially blind due to glaucoma.

“Forgive me for looking at you like this. It’s because I’m blind in one eye, not being furtive,” she said to the interviewer.

King Charles III has praised the late Dame Maggie Smith for her “warmth and wit” after the actor’s death at the age of 89.

The monarch shared his statement alongside a photograph of the pair speaking at the Pride Of Britain awards at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel in October 2016.

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King Charles praises Maggie Smith’s ‘warmth and wit’ in touching tribute to late film star

The monarch remembered Smith as a ‘national treasure’

Daniel Radcliffe has paid a heartfelt tribute to his Harry Potter co-star Maggie Smith in a lengthy statement shared with Variety.

“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.

“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.”

He added: “She was a fierce intellect, a gloriously sharp tongue, could intimidate and charm in the same instant and was, as everyone will tell you, extremely funny.

“I will always consider myself amazingly lucky to have been able to work with her, and to spend time around her on set. The word legend is overused but if it applies to anyone in our industry then it applies to her. Thank you Maggie.”

Star Trek actor George Takei has paid tribute to Dame Maggie Smith as a “grand star of screen and stage” after she died aged 89.

He said on X: “A grand star of screen and stage has departed. Maggie Smith, known most recently for her unforgettable roles as the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey and as Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, passed away at age 89. Fans both old and young shall miss her dearly.”

Born in Ilford, Essex, on December 28, 1934, Dame Maggie Smith was an internationally recognised actress for much of her life after playing the fanatical teacher Jean Brodie in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie.

One of Dame Maggie’s most iconic roles was playing Professor McGonagall in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter franchise.

And in 2010 she was central to the success of ITV series Downton Abbey, in her Emmy-award winning role as the acerbic Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, which she continued to play in the films.

Former British prime minister Rishi Sunak paid tribute to Dame Maggie Smith as an “icon of the stage and screen”.

Writing on X, Mr Sunak said: Deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Dame Maggie Smith - an icon of the stage and screen.

“She touched many lives across many generations with her incredible performances. Rest in peace.”