A meow. A ‘meow’. A sound that gives birth to first conversation in the Harry Potter film franchise. In “The Philosopher’s Stone”. In a beginning that we remember more than ever today because of the death of Maggie Smith. Of the death of the mythical and unforgettable Minerva McGonagall on the big screen. Who was the protagonist of the first minutes of the saga alongside Richard Harris as Dumbledore and Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid.
Yes, from the magic saga. The one in which this meow is pronounced by the teacher herself. The one who was in charge of teaching the ‘Transformations’ course and who, in the first year, was delighted with a great performance in each of her appearances. From the moment he receives young Harry, Ron and Hermione at Hogwarts to take with him to the selection ceremony when, as he did with his mother, he puts the hat on the “boy who lived”.
She is. She is the “big boss” of Gryffindor. Because if Dumbledore is Harry’s “father” at Hogwarts, we could well say that she is, without a doubt, his “mother”. East which brings Potter into the world of “Quidditch”, after seeing his skills catch Neville’s memory on the fly. In fact, it was McGonagall who gave Harry his first broomstick, the Nimbus 2000by joining the Gryffindor “Quidditch” team in his first year.
Furthermore, and as we can see in one of the scenes of the first film, when Hermione shows Harry a plaque indicating that his father was a “researcher” in “Quidditch” -just like him-; A plaque appears just to the right of James Potter’s shield on which he can read MG McGonagall. The professor therefore played this sport in the same team as Harry Potter’s father.
His unforgettable ‘Piertotum Locomotor’
Also from his friends. Second, with Dumbledore, avoid the expulsion of Ron and Harry with a punishment with Gilderoy Lockhart, professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, with whom Potter begins to hear these “voices” which end as if they ended up in the Chamber of Secrets. It is also he who gives Hermione, the “time turner” in third year with whom Granger He is capable of doing everything he does. With which saved lives are saved.
Who warns Dumbledore of the problems with the Goblet of Fire. The Great Resistance to Dolores Umbridge in fifth place. Who takes over from Albus Dumbledore at Hogwarts and who does he keep him with one of Harry’s last conversations at school before his adventure with the Horcruxes. And in the seventh year…
With Snape at the helm, Mythical is its second act scene of the Deathly Hallows confronting him. And how can we forget when he sets up the army of golems to defend Hogwarts with this “Piertotum Locomotor”.
Smith recommended Radcliffe to play Potter
It was Harry’s last year at Hogwarts…but His “first time” with the actor who brought the magician to life was not in The Philosopher’s Stone. Because two years earlier, in 1999, the two performers coincided in the television mini-series “David Copperfield”. In fact, it was she who recommended the boy for the role of Harry Potter.
So, as they say, that’s where it all started. It was then that the election began, important and complicated, of Daniel Radcliffe in the role of Harry Potter in the world of cinema. The one that put Maggie in as many as eight films. Which had the two-time Oscar-winning actress as Minerva McGonagall. Role he defended. A role that he made his own. Role with which he gained the respect and admiration of young performers who were taking their first steps in cinema.
The detail of Rupert Grint
Some young people who, like Rupert Grint, wanted to have a detail with Smith. The actor who brought Ron Weasley to life, changed his profile picture on Instagram to feature one where he is seen with the actress, with whom he shared an eight-film franchise and film set for over a decade.
This left in memory this “dance” that the two artists performed in fourth grade to the ridicule of their classmates. And that leaves curiosities and mysteries, like Who would be such and such MG McGonagall? which appeared when Harry saw his father’s name as a member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
Cancer didn’t stop her in the sixth installment
Because Maggie Smith, as stated above, she made the role of McGonagall her own. Because he left everything behind. Because even cancer wasn’t going to stop him from working. During the sixth film, the one in which she intervenes in the corridors with Ron and Harry to tell them to stop wandering and go to class, she was diagnosed with breast cancer which, as she declared in 2009 in “The Daily Telegraph”, left him “breathless”.
Sad day for wizards and witches. Sad day for the “muggles”. Sad day for lovers of the seventh art. Maggie Smith is leaving us. She leaves us with a winner of two Oscars. Professor Minerva McGonagall passes away at the age of 89.
