MAGGIE SMITH - REPORTS - MAGGIE SMITH BATTLING BREAST CANCER

Veteran actress DAME MAGGIE SMITH is reportedly battling breast cancer and recovering from an emergency operation to remove a tumour. The British screen legend reportedly underwent a course of chemotherapy to destroy cancerous cells, and is said to have bravely insisted on completing filming her role of schoolmistress Minerva MCGonagall in the upcoming Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince - the sixth film in the wizard hero franchise - while having the energy-sapping treatments. The double Oscar-winner was due to begin work on Julian Fellowes' film From Time To Time later this month (08), but reports suggest filming has been delayed in order for the 73-year-old to recover from her surgery. According to the U.K.'s Daily Mail newspaper a source close to the star says, " (She is) typically brave and understated. The last thing she wants to do is make a fuss about it." Smith's representative says, "We never comment on our client's private lives."