I was stunned by the headline in the Gazette’s Sept. 28 edition referring to the death of Dame Maggie Smith: “Harry Potter actress dies at 89.” Is this how you think your readers would remember one of the most gifted and celebrated actors of our time?

In the 1960s, she was already a national treasure in Great Britain, rivaling Sir Laurence Olivier at Britain’s National Theatre. From her breakout role in “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” to her scene-stealing performances as the Dowager Duchess in ”Downton Abbey,” Maggie Smith was one of a kind, not just another “Harry Potter actress.”

For readers of my age group, i.e., anyone born in the 20th century, Harry Potter movies will not be how she is remembered, although I must say she was quite brilliant in those films, too (writer smiling as she writes this).

Nina Kleinberg

Florence