Maggie Smith's 'hideous' cancer battle

Oct 6, 2009, 9:20 GMT

Cancer-stricken Dame Maggie Smith has vowed to "stagger through" the final 'Harry Potter' film.

The Oscar-winning actress - who plays Professor McGonagall in the hit boy wizard series - has vowed to complete her scenes in the big screen adaptation of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' despite her "hideous" illness.

The 74-year-old star told Britain's The Times newspaper: "If there's work to do I'll do it. I've still got to stagger through the last 'Harry Potter'. The cancer was hideous. It takes the wind out of your sails and I don't know what the future holds, if anything.

"You feel so ghastly, you wouldn't mind dying a lot of the time. The last couple of years have been a write-off, though I'm beginning to feel like a person now. My energy is coming back. S**t happens. I ought to pull myself together a bit."

Maggie was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007.

She had chemotherapy immediately, leaving her struggling to cope with the filming schedule for 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'.

She explained: "I was hairless. I had no problem getting the wig on. I was like a boiled egg. The chemotherapy made me feel horribly sick. I was holding onto railings, thinking, 'I can't do this.' "

'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' - the seventh and final book in the series written by J.K. Rowling - is being made into two movies.