Miriam Margolyes explains why Harry Potter role ‘wasn’t important’ to her

Miriam Margolyes has admitted that her beloved role as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter franchise “wasn’t important” to her.

The 82-year-old actor made the admission in an interview for her first-ever appearance on the cover of British Vogue for its new Pride issue.

The covers, for which Margolyes was pictured topless, were revealed exclusively in The Independent – the official news partner of Pride in London.

She told Vogue in the interview: “For me, Harry Potter wasn’t important. I was very glad I got the part and I enjoyed being in it and meeting all the people, but it’s not Charles Dickens.”

That said, she does enjoy the impact the role has had on her life: “People come up to me and say ‘I just love you’, and want to hug me. And that is dazzling.”

Though her speaking parts in the movies are limited, Margolyes’s turn as the Herbology teacher in Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets and Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is nonetheless a fan favourite.

She has previously acknowledged that, despite her 60-year career, she will be remembered for her small part in the magical saga.

“It’s a very humbling thing actually,” Margolyes told the BBC’s Imagine programme last year, “to realise that the part for which I will be most known and most remembered is one scene really.”

She continued: “I’m just an infinitesimal part of a franchise.”

Since appearing in the Potter movies, Margolyes has defended the series’ controversial author JK Rowling, claiming that anger at the author’s views on trans people has been “misplaced”.

Last month, the actor revealed that she had been admitted to hospital for cardiac surgery.

The actor had undergone transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), a minimally invasive procedure in which a narrow aortic valve is replaced.