Downton Abbey star Harry Hadden-Paton looked back on his nervous first-ever encounter of meeting the legendary late actress Maggie Smith.
The Harry Potter star played the role of Violet Crawley in the series and reprised the role in its first two movies. Meanwhile, Hadden-Paton portrayed Herbert Pelham, Marquess of Hexham, in the show.
In conversation with Digital Spy, Hadden-Paton opened up about crossing paths with his late co-star for the first time.
"I had a scene where, early on where I'd never met her before, and Hugh [Bonneville] said, 'You better go and do that again and next time, pay more attention to Maggie'," he told the outlet. "I went, 'Okay, what have I done wrong?'"
The actor said that when he approached the actress over the issue, it was "immediately" about "the work" and "the acting".
Marvelling over Smith's dedication towards work, he added, "It was about the relationships between my character and hers. Isn't that wonderful after all this time? It's not that she wants to be in the shot. It's that she wants to play."
He went on to explain that Smith wanted a backstory for his and her character "and where they met."
Hadden-Paton continued, "So I'll remember an icon and a talent and also just a child who loved acting like the rest of us."
The Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale was premiered on September 3.