There never seems to be a shortage of adventures to be had at Hogwarts, but sometimes love is in the air, too. In the Harry Potter films, even Reubus Hagrid has been hit by cupid's arrow when meeting Madame Olympe Maxime. And what the actor who played Hagrid's girlfriend looks like in IRL is totally different than her character in the Harry Potter movies. Frances de la Tour played Madame Maxime in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. The 72-year-old British actor is a Tony award winner who has starred in many theater productions, TV series, and movies, but you may not have recognized her in the Harry Potter films since she was in costume.
In the Harry Potter movies, Maxime is the headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and she's known for being a half-giant, wearing her hair in a short bob, and having an eccentric, feather-filled wardrobe. But in real life and in her other roles, de la Tour styles her hair in many different ways, wears a bit less feathers, and, well, she's not as tall (according to IMDb, she's 5-foot-7). The English actor recently starred in Outlander (as nun Mother Hildegarde), Amazon's The Collection (as the scheming matriarch Yvette Sabine), and the UK series Vicious (as the fiesty Violet).
In 2015, de la Tour appeared on the UK series Who Do You Think You Are? and learned about her ancestors. And you can see what Hagrid's girlfriend looks like in action IRL.
You can also see what de la Tour looks like IRL in the below video she shot in 2015 to celebrate the Living Paintings' charity reaching 10,000 library members.
In 2013, the British actor sat down for an interview along with The History Boys playwright Alan Bennett to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the UK's National Theatre and you can watch it in the video below. De la Tour starred in The History Boys on Broadway and in the film as Mrs. Linott, a role for which she won the 2006 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.
De la Tour has appeared in many iconic movies over the years, including Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through The Looking Glass, Hugo, and Into The Woods. She even had a small role as a terminally ill woman in the beloved Christmas movie Love Actually, but the scene was cut and it lives on as a deleted scene on the film's DVD — and on YouTube.
As you can see, de la Tour is a very versatile actor and it's no wonder she was able to slip into the role of Maxime with ease.
