[Commenting on
Maggie Smith following her death in September 2024] Completely unique and completely irreplaceable... She was a complete one off. She was adorable to me. She was always really nice to me, and she rang me up on occasions and said why didn't I ring more often and I felt I really should have had the courage to be her friend. But I was a little bit nervous of her, I suppose, and I tried to think what that nervousness was, and it was that one wasn't going to be entertaining enough, gossipy enough, to hold her attention. She wasn't actually someone who wanted to be the centre [of attention], any more than any actor. Of course you want attention when you're on, but behind the scenes, she was a listener. She was a games player, she joined in, she liked company, but she was incredibly private... we have to admit that only her close family and her lovers, who are now gone, really knew her, and we just sort of brushed against her if we were lucky.
