Robbie Coltrane, the Scottish actor who played Hagrid in the Harry Potter films, has died at the age of 72, his agent said Friday.
“My client and friend Robbie Coltrane OBE passed away on Friday 14 October,” Belinda Wright said in a statement, calling him “a unique talent”.
Coltrane, born Anthony Robert McMillan in Rutherglen, near Glasgow, on March 30, 1950, pursued a career as an actor, comedian and writer.
On television, he starred in the 1987 BAFTA-winning BBC mini-series “Tutti Frutti” alongside Emma Thompson.
He rose to fame and won further awards for his portrayal of 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 TV comedy series “Black Widow the Third” alongside “Mr. Bean” star Rowan Atkinson and Hugh Laurie (“House”).
On the big screen, he starred in Neil Jordan’s 1987 crime drama “Mona Lisa” and teamed up with former Monty Python star Eric Idle in the 1990 comedy “Nuns on the Run.”
He also played a former KGB agent-turned-Russian mafia boss opposite Pierce Brosnan in two James Bond films – “Goldney” (1995) and “The World Is Not Enough” (1999).
But he will be most universally remembered as Rubeus Hagrid, the half-giant half-human gamekeeper of Hogwarts school and Keeper of the Keys and Grounds in JK Rowling’s best-selling Harry Potter book film franchise. .
Wright said the character “brought joy to children and adults alike around the world, generating a stream of fan letters every week for 20 years”.
She added: “For me personally I will remember her as a loyal customer.
“As well as being a brilliant actor, he was forensically astute, brilliantly intelligent and after being proud to call myself my agent for 40 years, I will miss him.”
Coltrane is survived by his sister Annie Rae, his children Spencer and Alice, and his mother Rona 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”.
