The Harry Potter franchise is one of the most popular book and movie series in the world, and for very good reason. You probably think you already know everything about the magical world, but I bet these ten facts will take you by surprise.
- Professor Flitwick and the goblin Griphook were both played by Warwick Davis.
- Dame Maggie Smith was diagnosed with breast cancer while filming Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in 2007, but she continued filming even while she received chemotherapy treatments.
- She also developed shingles while filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and filmed through the pain. Talk about a tough cookie!
- Lord Voldemort was played by SIX different actors. Richard Bremmer played his body in the Sorcerer’s Stone, Ian Hart was his voice and motion capture in the Sorcerer’s Stone, Christian Coulson was the teenage Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Frank Dillane was the second teenage Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin played eleven year old Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Ralph Fiennes played Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
- Moaning Myrtle actress, Shirley Henderson, is only 5’ ½” tall and was 37 years old when Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was filmed. That makes her the oldest actress to portray a teenage Hogwarts student.
- Dementors are based on depression and the difficulties it causes in sufferers. Rowling was inspired by her own struggle with depression to create the soul-sucking creatures.
- Diagon Alley = diagonally
Knockturn Alley = nocturnally
Grimmauld Place = grim old place
You’re welcome. - Ron’s patronus is a Jack Russell terrier, which is known for chasing vermin including otters. Herminone’s patronus is an otter. Boom.
- Tom Felton kept sneaking food onto the set when filming Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban so the pockets of his robe had to be sewn shut.
- Rowling wrote the memorable line “I open at the close” in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The first Harry Potter book was published in 1998, which is the same year that the final Battle of Hogwarts was fought in the story’s timeline. Coincidence? I think not.
