Who Played Moaning Myrtle?

What is Moaning Myrtle doing now

The Harry Potter film franchise is one of the world’s most well-known, and brought us some very memorable characters. Moaning Myrtle was up there as one of its most iconic, but did you know the 14 year old school girl was actually played by a 37 year old woman? In both 2002 and 2005, Shirley Henderson played the role of Moaning Myrtle – the whining ghost who haunts Hogwarts’ toilets – but she’d already played some very well-known characters prior to her role alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint.

Now 55 years old, Shirley looks absolutely nothing like she did as the J.K Rowling character, it’s almost unbelievable. Throughout her 40-year career, she’s landed acting jobs for productions such as Star Wars, Wild Child, Trainspotting and even a regular supporting role in all of the Bridget Jones films.

But would you be able to spot her? Let’s take a look. Shirley as Moaning Myrtle in 2002 (Image: Getty) Get exclusive celebrity stories and fabulous photoshoots straight to your inbox with OK!’s daily newsletter, You can sign up at the top of the page. Scottish actress Shirley hails from Fife in the north of Scotland.

At age 17 she moved her whole life down to London in order to pursue an acting career – and that she did! After landing a number of TV roles for the likes of Casualty and BBC’s Hamish Macbeth in the 90s, her big break came when she was casted as Gail in the cult film Trainspotting alongside Ewan McGregor.

In 2001, Shirley was cast as Jude in Bridget Jones’ Diary, perhaps one of her most defining roles. She acted alongside Renee Zellweger and was one of her best friends in the movie, which also starred Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. Shirley pictured in Bridget Jones (Image: Getty) This role is one she came to reprise for Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason in 2004, and Bridget Jones’ Baby in 2016. Despite playing a 30-something Londoner in the first two Bridget Jones films, Shirley was casted, and simultaneously played the role of 14 year old Moaning Myrtle at the same time. LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 18: Shirley Henderson attends “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” European Premiere at Cineworld Leicester Square on December 18, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Lia Toby/Getty Images) Now, the star is unrecognisable from her Harry Potter days, and looks a whole lot more elegant than she did sporting bunches, round glasses, and a fringe. HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 14: Actress Shirley Henderson attends the special screening of “Stan & Ollie” at the 2018 AFI FEST at the Egyptian Theatre on November 14, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic) More recently Shirley starred alongside Hollywood star John C Reilly, in the film Stan & Ollie.

Why was Moaning Myrtle so old?

10 Behind The Scenes Reasons For Harry Potter Character Traits

• Though the vast majority of the teenage characters in the series are played by age-approximate actors, there is one amusing exception, and that’s Moaning Myrtle.
• The wailing ghost who haunts Hogwarts is instead played by the great Shirley Henderson in Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire, and as noted by many fans, Henderson looks markedly older than her castmates.
• That’s because Henderson was 36 years of age when she first played Myrtle, as the filmmakers ultimately decided to cast an older actress in the part to make their natural ageing seem less noticeable.
• Myrtle being dead and all, it would’ve made no sense for her to blatantly age, and had they hired an actual teenager to play her, she would’ve been distractingly older when re-appearing in Goblet of Fire a few years later.
• Granted, you can argue that hiring an actress more than double the character’s age is more distracting than that would’ve ever been, or they could’ve just hired a younger-looking actress in their early 20s instead, but there was at least some sort of logic at play here.

Who was teasing Myrtle before she died?

Death – ” Nobody missed me even when I was alive. Took them hours to find my body — I know, I was sitting there waiting for them. Olive Hornby came into the bathroom — ‘Are you in here again, sulking, Myrtle?’ she said, ‘because Professor Dippet asked me to look for you —’ And then she saw my body.

• Myrtle regarding the finding of her body On her final day of her life in early June 1943, Myrtle was teased by student Olive Hornby, who made fun of Myrtle’s glasses and left Myrtle alone sobbing.
• Myrtle then ran into one of the bathroom’s stalls and started crying.
• Shortly after Myrtle had entered the bathroom, Riddle entered and started speaking in Parseltongue in order to open the Chamber of Secrets, the entrance of which was hidden behind the sink in front of the very stall occupied by Myrtle at the time.

The Serpent of Slytherin (a Basilisk ) then emerged from the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. The monster had been using the pipes as a means of transportation, as to not be seen and therefore never being caught. Myrtle’s body being removed from school grounds Myrtle, still in one of the stalls, recognised the voice as being that of a boy. Opening the stall’s door, she was about to yell at Riddle to go away, when the Basilisk stared at Myrtle and her eyes met with the monster’s.

What house was Moaning Myrtle in?

Moaning Myrtle – Before she was Hogwarts’ most, er, impassioned ghost, Moaning Myrtle was an unhappy and picked-upon child. Born in the late 1920s to Muggle parents, Myrtle Warren started her Hogwarts life in the early 1940s, where she was sorted into Ravenclaw, Myrtle’s transition from lonely student to eccentric ghost was thanks to the Chamber of Secrets, Having been teased by fellow student Olive Hornby, Myrtle hid in the first-floor girls’ toilets and began sobbing in one of its stalls. It was here that she ran into Voldemort himself, Tom Riddle, who she overheard speaking Parseltongue in order to open the Chamber, which was hidden behind the sinks.

Thinking that Riddle was intruding in the girls’ bathroom, she opened the stall door to tell him off – only to be confronted with the Chamber of Secrets’ Basilisk, whose gaze killed her instantly. Her body was later found by Hornby, whose discovery would haunt her – both figuratively and literally, for Myrtle returned as a ghost and immediately started to torment her.

After a complaint to the Ministry of Magic, Myrtle was consigned to the bathroom forever.

Why does Myrtle look like Harry?

The only real similarity is the glasses. Anything else is merely coincidence. After all she is a female and Harry is a male. Dark hair and dark eyes are very common in Great Britain.

What year was Moaning Myrtle in when she died

Who is the girl in the toilet in Harry Potter?

Moaning Myrtle Myrtle Warren was once a Hogwarts student, but after her untimely death, she stayed back as a spirit to eternally haunt the second-floor girls’ bathroom. Myrtle had a hard time at Hogwarts, and was frequently bullied. Prone to wailing morosely, the ghost became known informally as Moaning Myrtle.

Why did Myrtle died?

As Gatsby’s car approaches the garage, Myrtle, who has been arguing with her husband, sees the vehicle and mistakenly believes that Tom Buchanan is driving it. She runs into the road, intending to speak with him but she is hit and killed. The car fails to stop.

Why was Myrtle murdered?

The death of Myrtle was directly caused by Daisy hitting her with Gatsby’s car, but that was just an accident. The true cause of her demise was her own greed and lust for material things. She had everything she needed in life with George. He loved her and took care of her.

What injuries did Myrtle have?

‘The Great Gatsby’ culminates in the deaths of Gatsby and Myrtle. Whilst there are several (some more metaphorical) ways in which Fitzgerald depicts death within ‘The Great Gatsby’, Gatsby’s and Myrtle’s deaths are interesting to further examine as they depict the deaths of two very different people, in very different ways.

• Though neither death can said to be glamorous; Gatsby is shot in his pool and Myrtle hit by a car, it is worth further analysing the ways in which the deaths are described.
• Gatsby is said to have ‘shouldered’ his inflatable lilo before carrying it to the pool in which he will be killed.
• This image, of carrying the item on which one is to be executed is highly redolent of Jesus Christ.

This allusion by Fitzgerald establishes Gatsby as a kind of martyr who gallantly dies for his love (taking the blame for Daisy’s murder of Myrtle) By contrast Myrtle’s death is described in a rather different light. Myrtle, mistress to Tom and unfaithful to her own husband is hit and killed when Daisy accidentally drives into her.

• It is reported that Myrtle’s breast is ‘ripped’ off during the incident.
• This symbol of femininity being so aggressively attacked (you may wish to discuss the visceral nature of the language used) differs greatly to the image of Gatsby’s death.
• Whilst Gatsby is portrayed as divine being in his death, Myrtle is a symbol of destroyed womanhood.

It is also worth noting the amount of time each death occupies on the page. The entire eighth chapter is dedicated almost exclusively to describing the death of Gatsby and the narration allows us to ‘see’ the terrible scene. However, Myrtle’s death is only reported to us through the conversation’s of those with a further degree of separation from the reader.

1. Gatsby is granted a greater degree of intimacy and therefore we expect a reader may feel his death more profoundly.
2. Or perhaps one could argue that the noncholant brevity through which Myrtle’s death is reported could inspire feelings of anguish and sympathy for her? Another point you may wish to draw upon is that, in spite of the differences of the two characters (one, an upper class gentleman and the other a working class mistress) and their eventual demise, is that they are similar in their desires.

Both are desirous of a lover who is already married. Though Myrtle appears to have consummated her desire a little more than Gatsby (by having sexual relations with Tom) both appear to die in pursuit of the object of their desire. Myrtle dies running out to Tom’s car and Gatsby dies defending Daisy’s reputation.

Is Moaning Myrtle a boy or girl?

Muggles’ Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Moaning Myrtle

What is Moaning Myrtle’s full name

‘Moaning Myrtle’s full name was Myrtle Elizabeth Warren,’ the author tweeted on Monday.

Who killed moaning myrtle

She was just 14 when she died. – Myrtle’s life was cut shockingly short when she was killed by the Basilisk at Tom Riddle’s command. It’s not surprising to me that she stayed on as a ghost. She was so young and hadn’t had the chance to experience much of life.

• In the wizarding world, ghosts are often either afraid of death or have a strong connection to the places that they haunt, and it seems likely to me that both apply to Myrtle.
• Additionally, we are told that she remained as a ghost in order to haunt Olive Hornby, the Hogwarts student that bullied her on the day of her death.

After the Ministry stopped her from stalking Olive, Myrtle returned to Hogwarts, where she later met Harry.

Why is moaning myrtle always crying?

Personality and traits – Myrtle was constantly bullied during her education at Hogwarts, for both her physical appearance and her personality. Myrtle hardly ever smiled and took great offence at the smallest slight, crying rivers of tears and wailing.

1. She was often upset so badly that she tried to kill herself, until she realised that she was already dead.
2. Myrtle did tend to be happy when something bad happened to other students, like when Hermione Granger accidently gained cat fur, ears and a tail after taking a contaminated Polyjuice Potion.
3. She did, however, seem to warm to some male students, including Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy,

Myrtle also appeared to be a desperate flirt; she constantly flirted with Harry Potter, and showed her desperation to find love by spying on students such as Cedric Diggory whilst he bathed in the prefects’ bathroom, Myrtle liked to take bubble baths when she was alive, due to “all those pretty bubbles”,

Was Dumbledore a hufflepuff?

Hogwarts years (1892-1899) – ” By the end of his first year, he would never again be known as the son of a Muggle-hater, but as nothing more or less than the most brilliant student ever seen at the school. ” —Elphias Doge on Dumbledore’s school years File:Hogwarts-castle-harry-potter-166431.jpg Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Dumbledore began attending Hogwarts in the autumn of 1892 and was Sorted into Gryffindor house.

Dumbledore’s first year was met with much whispering about his father’s crime. Many of Albus’ fellow students mistakenly believed that, like father like son, Albus too hated Muggles, Some praised his father’s actions hoping to gain his trust, but they would not find favour with the young Dumbledore this way.

Though later in his young life, under the influence of his love for Gellert Grindelwald, some anti-Muggle prejudice did develop, but he soon saw the error of his intent. He befriended a young Elphias Doge on his first day at Hogwarts; Doge was suffering from the aftermath of Dragon Pox at the time (greenish skin and pockmarks), which discouraged most from approaching him.

Dumbledore, however, demonstrated his uncommon kindness and willingness to look past the surface and find inner beauty in people. Dumbledore also became very well-connected during his Hogwarts years, making notable friends such as Nicolas Flamel, Bathilda Bagshot, and Griselda Marchbanks, who marked him in his N.E.W.T.s for Charms and Transfiguration and later recalled that he did things with a wand that she had never seen before.

He also had several of his papers published during his studies. During his school years, Dumbledore won the Barnabus Finkley Prize for Exceptional Spell-Casting, became the British Youth Representative to the Wizengamot, and received the gold medal for Ground-Breaking Contribution to the International Alchemical Conference in Cairo.

In his third year, Dumbledore presumably took Study of Ancient Runes and at least one other subject, which is known not to be Divination, During his fourth year, Dumbledore “accidentally” set the bed-curtains in his dormitory on fire (although he admitted that he had never liked them anyway). Albus was made a prefect during his fifth year and was made Head Boy in his seventh year,

He was considered the most brilliant student to have attended the school,

Does Myrtle have a crush on Harry?

Behind the scenes –

• Moaning Myrtle was portrayed by Shirley Henderson in the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Being 5′ 0½” (1.54 m) and 37 years old when she first played Moaning Myrtle, she is the oldest actress to play a teenage Hogwarts student in the Harry Potter films.
• Chika Sakamoto voiced Myrtle in the Japanese dubs.
• Moaning Myrtle was based on the concept of crying girls found in communal bathrooms, such as those in parties and discos.
• The myrtle tree is a close relative of the willow tree. “Moaning Myrtle” is a similar phrase to “weeping willow.” Her name is also possibly related to the “Moaning Minnie,” the British name for a German WWII artillery shell that made a distinctive moaning whine before it hit. File:LEGO Myrtle.png Myrtle as a LEGO minifigure
• Myrtle is omitted from the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,
• According to J.K. Rowling ‘s early drafts for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, this character was supposed to have been called “Wailing Wanda”.
• Though never seen or mentioned, Ron and Hermione may have seen Myrtle when they went back down the Chamber of Secrets to destroy Hufflepuff’s Cup in Deathly Hallows,
• The myrtle ( Myrtus ) is a flowering plant of southern Europe and north Africa. In Greek mythology, it was sacred to Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, and to Demeter, goddess of grain and fertility; Pausanias relates it to the tragedy of Adonis. The Roman poet Virgil relates the myrtle to Venus and used them in wedding rituals, something that Jewish liturgy, which deemed it sacred, also used. Myrtle has also uses in Wiccan rituals, and was considered medicinal by the ancients, including Hippocrates, Pliny, Galen and Arabian writers. File:Myrtle human.PNG Shirley Henderson playing Myrtle.
• Myrtle’s surname was never mentioned in canon, however in 2015, after being asked by a fan over Twitter, JK Rowling announced it was Warren and that Myrtle also had a middle name (Elizabeth). Rowling also referred to the middle name of Elizabeth as “just one of those classic British middle names”.
• In one scene of Chamber of Secrets, Ron jokingly suggests that Tom Riddle earned his Special Award for Services to the School for killing Myrtle; this foreshadows the fact that Riddle did indeed kill her.

• Myrtle is shown to have a crush on Harry throughout the series. In the Goblet of Fire film, the bathroom scene shows her acting sexually towards Harry.
• Myrtle was also the first person to be killed by Lord Voldemort,
• Shirley Henderson’s first scene in the film Bridget Jones’s Diary involves her character, Jude, crying in a womens’ toilets.
• In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, Harry and Ron battle Myrtle.
• Hermione and Myrtle have a lot in common. They are both Muggle-born and both Hermione and Myrtle run to the girls’ lavatory upon being teased by classmates, a move that puts both in mortal danger (from a troll and basilisk, respectively). But while Hermione is saved by a repentant Ron and Harry, Myrtle is killed by the unfeeling Riddle.
• At The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Moaning Myrtle haunts the restrooms, though only her voice is heard. File:Screenshot 1167.png
• Shirley Henderson and Kelly Macdonald, who played another Hogwarts ghost The Grey Lady, played sisters in the film Intermission,
• Apparently she never informed anyone about her death until she told Harry, Ron and Lockhart, It’s unknown why she never told Armando Dippet or Albus Dumbledore about the cause of her death. It is possible that shortly after her death she was too distraught or traumatised to talk about it and was not asked for fear of upsetting her.

Why did Moaning Myrtle never leave the bathroom?

Myrtle’s ghost – After her death, Myrtle ‘s ghost (or Moaning Myrtle, as the students usually call her) haunted Olive Hornby, the fellow student who caused her to be in the bathroom that evening. When the Ministry of Magic refrained her from doing so, Moaning Myrtle returned to the bathroom, haunting indefinitely.

Why was Moaning Myrtle crying in the bathroom?

Myrtle Didn’t Always Haunt Hogwarts – The rules of where a ghost can haunt do not seem to be concrete in the wizarding world, and Myrtle revealed that the Ministry of Magic even has a hand in controlling the ghost and ghouls of the country. When Myrtle told the story of her death, she added details about the girl who bullied her, who was also the person to find her body.

Olive Hornby was horrified to discover Myrtle dead, but she would live to rue the moment even more since Myrtle decided to haunt her personally for years. Finally, after making a massive scene at Olive’s brother’s wedding, Olive asked the Ministry to intervene, and Myrtle was forced to return to Hogwarts.

NEXT: 10 Adult Harry Potter Characters Who Repeatedly Ignored Their Own Advice