Dame Maggie Smith said she is glad Michael Gambon has given up stage acting because it was “hair raising” working with him when he kept forgetting lines.
The 80-year-old actress played Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films and Michael Gambon, who played Dumbledore, recently announced that his retirement due to anxiety caused by his failing memory.
"It was about time he admitted it, because it was hair-raising doing things with him,” Dame Maggie told The Sunday Times . “Mind you, I defy anyone to learn Harry Potter-speak. It'd probably be easier for him to learn Shakespeare."
Dame Maggie said she will continue working for as long as she is able. "When you're not working it's scary, and when you are working it's scary, because you don't know if you've got the energy to get through the day,” she said.
"But the bleakness of not doing it, and missing out on the friendships that you make, is too much to bear."
The award-winning actress, who has appeared in over 60 films and television series, said that since her role in Downton Abbey she is no longer able to go about unrecognised.
"One isn't safe after doing Downton,” she said. “I've gone through my whole life without any of that. I could go round galleries and things on my own and I just can't do it now."
Dame Maggie was disparaging about “selfies” saying: “That's awful is it used to be just autographs, but now everyone wants photographs. There's nothing like privacy, but nobody will have that soon."
Dame Maggie Smith made her stage debut in 1952 at the Oxford Playhouse, and her film debut followed four years later one of the party guests in Child in the House.
She went on to win two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards, three Golden Globes, four Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Tony Award.
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