Daniel Radcliffe recalls first meeting with late ‘Harry Potter’ star Maggie Smith

Daniel Radcliffe recalled his first meeting with his late Harry Potter star, Dame Maggie Smith, when he was just a kid, after the actress died on Friday, September 27 at the age of 89.

The 35-year-old Radcliffe and Smith are mostly famous amongst fans for playing "The Boy Who Lived” and “Professor Minerva McGonagall” in the eight J.K. Rowling’s novel-adopted film series.

But the actor reminisced how he first met Smith on the set of the 1999 BBC miniseries David Copperfield.

“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,” Radcliffe shared with Us Weekly on Friday.

“I knew virtually nothing about her other than that my parents were awestruck at the fact that I would be working with her.”

He recalled, “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!’”

The star remembered how he first felt “nervous to meet her”, but was later put “at ease” by the actress.

“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 gushed.

“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,” Radcliffe said of Smith.

“Thank you Maggie,” he added in the end.