Harry Potter’s Hagrid, Robbie Coltrane, dies aged 72
- The Scottish actor is best known as the half-giant half-human gamekeeper at Hogwarts in the film franchise based on JK Rowling’s books
- He also starred alongside Emma Thompson in the BAFTA-winning series Tutti Frutti and appeared in Blackadder with Mr Bean star Rowan Atkinson
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Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid in the Harry Potter films, has died aged 72, his agent said on Friday.
“My client and friend Robbie Coltrane OBE passed away on Friday October 14,” Belinda Wright said in a statement, calling him “a unique talent”.
Coltrane, who was born Anthony Robert McMillan on March 30, 1950, in Rutherglen, near Glasgow, forged a career as an actor, comedian and writer.
On television, he starred alongside Emma Thompson in the cult BAFTA-winning BBC miniseries Tutti Frutti in 1987.
He came to prominence and won more awards for his portrayal of the hard-drinking criminal psychologist Dr Eddie “Fitz” Fitzgerald in the ITV series Cracker (1993-2006).
He was the English author and lexicographer Samuel Johnson in the television comedy series Blackadder the Third alongside Mr Bean star Rowan Atkinson and House’s Hugh Laurie.
On the big screen, he appeared in the 1987 Neil Jordan crime drama Mona Lisa and teamed up with former Monty Python star Eric Idle in the 1990 comedy Nuns on the Run. The following year, he starred in the controversial comedy film The Pope Must Die. He also played a former KGB agent-turned-Russian mafia boss in two James Bond films – Goldeneye (1995) and The World Is Not Enough (1999) – with Pierce Brosnan.
But he will best be remembered globally as Rubeus Hagrid, the half-giant half-human gamekeeper at the Hogwarts school for magic in the film franchise of JK Rowling’s bestselling Harry Potter books.
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The role “brought joy to children and adults alike all over the world, prompting a stream of fan letters every week for over 20 years”, Wright said.
She added: “For me personally I shall remember him as an abidingly loyal client. As well as being a wonderful actor, he was forensically intelligent, brilliantly witty and after 40 years of being proud to be called his agent, I shall miss him.”
Coltrane is survived by his sister Annie Rae, his children Spencer and Alice and their mother Rhona Gemmell.
No cause of death was given but Wright thanked medical staff at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, central Scotland, “for their care and diplomacy”.
