Daniel Radcliffe has written a heartfelt tribute to his late Harry Potter co-star Dame Maggie Smith , who has died at the age of 89 . Radcliffe played the boy wizard in eight movies from 2001 to 2011 , with Smith appearing in all but one of the films as Professor Minerva McGonagall, the head of Gryffindor House and the deputy headmistress at Hogwarts under Albus Dumbledore. In a statement seen by The Independent , Radcliffe said: “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. “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.
” “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 any.