Actor Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid in the Harry Potter films, has died at the age of 72. (file)
London:
Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid in the Harry Potter films, has died at the age of 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.
Coltrane, who was born as Anthony Robert Macmillan on 30 March 1950 in Rutherglen, near Glasgow, pursued a career as an actor, comedian and writer.
On television, she starred alongside Emma Thompson in the 1987 BAFTA-winning BBC mini-series “Tutti Frutti” Creed.
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 English writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson in the TV comedy series “Blackadder the Third” alongside “Mr Bean” star Rowan Atkinson and Hugh Laurie (“House”).
On the big screen, she had roles in the 1987 Neil Jordan crime drama “Mona Lisa” and teamed up with former Monty Python star Eric Idle in the 1990 comedy “Nun on the Run.”
He 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 be remembered as Rubus Hagrid, the half-giant half-human gamekeeper and Hogwarts School’s Keeper and Grounds in J.K. Rowling’s best-selling Harry Potter books film franchise.
Ms Wright said the role “brought joy to children and adults alike around the world, prompting a stream of fan letters every week for more than 20 years”.
She said: “For me personally I will remember him as a loyal customer.
“As well as being an amazing actor, he was forensically intelligent, brilliantly funny and, 40 years later, proud to be called my agent, I will miss him.”
Coltrane is survived by his sister Annie Rae, their children Spencer and Alice, and their mother, Rona Gemmel.
No cause of death was given, but Wright thanked the medical staff at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, central Scotland, “for their care and diplomacy”.
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