Dame Maggie Smith Talks Career, “Potter”, and Her Battle with Cancer

by · September 7, 2012

Dame Maggie Smith has been in the show business industry for 60 years and continues to live the dream! The Harry Potter actress was recently interviewed by the Toronto Star and shared several stories of her career, including the commitment she made as Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films.

Over the past six decades, Dame Maggie Smith has been an icon in the business, winning seven BAFTAs, two Oscars, two Golden Globes, two Emmys, two SAG Awards, an Oliver Award, and a Tony, yet she has definitely seen her popularity grow over the last two decades not just from the Harry Potter films but also for her role in Downton Abbey.

While filming the Harry Potter series, she was battling a harrowing case of cancer, but she was able to maintain a marvelous sense of humor about the experience:

There are advantages to cancer, you know. My chemo cheered up the makeup department on Harry Potter because the wig went on a great deal easier without a single hair on my head.

Dame Maggie Smith admits that fighting cancer was not easy.

Some people say you have to fight cancer. But it was fighting me. The cure was worse than the disease, and it left me totally exhausted and depressed. I just hid myself away in my daughter-in-law’s flat. I couldn’t face anyone or anything. But you get though it; you finally get through it. But you don’t know how bad it is until you actually live through it yourself.

During the interview, she also commented on the Potter series, “I knew it was going to be a major commitment when I started, but it turned out to be 10 years. That’s a lot of time with one character!”

Maggie will be traveling to Toronto to attend the Toronto International Film Festival and help launch her latest film, Quartet, Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut, as well as receive the 2012 Stratford Shakespeare Festival’s Legacy Award.

Thank you, Dame Maggie Smith, for being that brave and strong soul while bringing one of our all-time favorite characters of Professor Minerva McGonagall to life, and congratulations on the well-deserved honor!