Dame Maggie Smith was more than just a costar to Whoopi Goldberg. She was a cherished friend who provided her with emotional support.
After Smith’s passing on September 27 at age 89, Goldberg honored her “brilliant” and “one-of-a-kind” friend in a heartfelt social media tribute.
Goldberg, 68, had previously shared a heartwarming story of how Smith’s friendship extended beyond their ’90s “Sister Act” set, which included offering her unwavering support ahead of Goldberg’s mother’s death in 2010, as reported by PEOPLE.
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In May, while discussing her memoir Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me, Goldberg recounted the moment she learned her mother, Emma Harris, was on life support following an aneurysm. Goldberg was in London performing in the stage adaptation of Sister Act when her brother, Clyde K. Johnson, informed her of the news.
Smith, who was visiting the production, was there to support Goldberg during this difficult time. After receiving the news, Goldberg spoke with Smith for five hours before catching a flight to the hospital. There, she and her brother made the difficult decision to take their mother, Harris, off life support.
“Having Maggie Smith be there, and being able to fall apart and having her say, ‘Listen, my friend. We’ll get you through this. We’ll get you through this. We’ll get you to the hospital so you can get her. Get you back to Berkeley so you can get home,’” Goldberg told PEOPLE in May.
“We were up all night, just laughing and talking about stuff,” she added. “And she had met my mom a couple of times. Just having somebody who got it, who understood, it’s everything.”
In her social media tribute to Smith, Goldberg fondly remembered working with the late Harry Potter star.
They appeared together in 1992’s Sister Act and its 1993 sequel, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, where Goldberg played lounge singer Deloris and Smith portrayed the memorable Mother Superior.
“Maggie Smith was a great woman and a brilliant actress,” Goldberg wrote, alongside a photo of the duo on set. “I still can’t believe I was lucky enough to work with the ‘one-of-a-kind.'”
“My heartfelt condolences go out to the family…RIP,” she concluded.
