Dame Maggie Smith’s tragic death has rippled throughout the Harry Potter community, and now fans are realising that the legendary actress battled harder than most during filming.
The actress had previously been diagnosed with Graves' Disease, a condition in which the body’s cells attack the thyroid gland and is the leading cause of hyperthyroidism.
This happened in 1988, and the Dame hid herself away for a year as the symptoms became too much for her.
With bulging eyes and a puffy face, she explained how she felt bad that she had ‘let everyone down’ while she was meant to be performing a play.
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Years later, she would have an even worse diagnosis of breast cancer during the filming of the final Harry Potter movies, while portraying Professor McGonagall.
Despite having to undergo chemotherapy, she didn’t waver from her role and wanted to continue working so as to not disappoint the franchise or its fans.
It was when she was filming Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, the sixth instalment, that the diagnosis came.
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Dame Maggie admitted that she planned to ‘stagger through’ the final two films.
She explained that she had felt a lump in her breast but didn’t initially worry.
Speaking to The Times, she said: “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.
“It kind of takes the wind out of your sails, and I don’t know what the future holds, if anything. I don’t think there’s a lot of it, because of my age — there just isn’t. It’s all been. I’ve no idea what there will be.”
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Fans online who were stunned to find this out, posted their respects to the late actress, calling her a ‘legend.’
One person wrote: “Legendary actress. Excellent in all of her roles. And this is why…because she was dedicated to her art.”
Another said: “The hero we knew she was.”
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Someone else commented: “She a legend. That’s what legends do.”
For two whole years she had to endure chemotherapy and radiation and called it ‘hideous’.
She said: “You feel horribly sick. I was holding on to railings, thinking, ‘I can’t do this.’”
During this time as Professor Minerva McGonagall, she was forced to wear a wig.
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Dame Maggie explained: “I was hairless. I had no problem getting the wig on. I was like a boiled egg.”
As an avid performer on stage, she said that it left her feeling differently.
She said: “[Cancer] leaves you so flattened. I’m not sure I could go back to theatre work, although film work is more tiring. I’m frightened to work in theatre now. I feel very uncertain. I haven’t done it for a while.
“I think it’s the age I was when it happened. It knocks you sideways. It takes you longer to recover, you are not so resilient. I am fearful of the amount of energy one needs to be in a film or a play.”
Topics: Harry Potter, Celebrity, TV And Film, Cancer
Britt Jones