Robbie Coltrane, Harry Potter’s Hagrid, Dies At Age 72

Variety reports:

Robbie Coltrane, who played the lovable half-giant Rubeus Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” franchise, has died, his agency WME confirmed on Friday. He was 72.

Coltrane featured in every “Harry Potter” movie, from “Sorcerer’s Stone” in 2001 to “Death Hallows -Part 2” in 2011, and was much beloved for bringing the character from J.K. Rowling’s book series to life.

He was among one of the first characters to appear on screen, and he recited the famous line, “Yer a wizard, Harry,” to a young Daniel Radcliffe as he embarked on his journey into the wizarding world.

Sky News reports:

Coltrane was made an OBE in the 2006 New Year’s honours list for his services to drama and he was awarded the Bafta Scotland Award for outstanding contribution to film in 2011. His agent did not give details on his death – but said Coltrane’s family thanked the team at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert for their care. Stephen Fry, who starred with Coltrane in the comedy series Alfresco, said the actor will be “dreadfully missed”.

Yahoo News reports:



He was born Anthony Robert McMillan on March 30th, 1950, and adopted the stage name Coltrane as a tribute to his favorite musician, John Coltrane. In the 1970s he earned a reputation on the stages of London as a rising sketch comedy star, and he broke into film with a small part in 1980’s Flash Gordon.

By the end of that decade he was a bona fide star, releasing the sketch and stand-up show The Robbie Coltrane Special, and appearing as perhaps Shakespeare’s funniest character, Falstaff, in Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V.

In 1990 he starred opposite Eric Idle in Nuns on the Run, and in 1991 he played the Pope in The Pope Must Die, for which he won the Evening Standard British Film Award – Peter Sellers Award for Comedy.