Robbie Coltrane, the baby-faced comic and character actor who played a crime-solving psychologist on the TV show “Cracker” and the compassionate half-giant Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” films, has died. He was 72.
Belinda Wright, Coltrane’s agent, said he died Friday at a hospital in his native Scotland but did not immediately provide further details. In one of several tributes to him, she called him “forensically clever” and “brilliantly humorous.”
J.K. Rowling, who indicated decades ago that Coltrane was her first choice to play Hagrid, tweeted on Friday that he was “a wonderful talent, a complete one-off.”
“I consider myself extremely privileged to have known him, worked with him and laughed my head off with him,” she wrote.
Coltrane, who was born Anthony Robert McMillan in Rutherglen, Scotland, was in his early twenties when he began pursuing an acting career and renamed himself after jazz singer John Coltrane.
When he broke through as a hard-bitten detective in “Cracker,” the 1990s TV series for which he won the best actor at the British Academy Television Awards three years in a row, he already had a notable screen career, with credits including “Mona Lisa,” “Nuns on the Run,” and Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of “Henry V.”
He went on to play the young wizard’s master in all eight “Harry Potter” films, as well as a Russian crime leader in the James Bond blockbusters “GoldenEye” and “The World is Not Enough,” and Pip’s guardian Mr. Jaggers in a 2012 adaptation of Dickens’s “Great Expectations.” In the 2016 miniseries “National Treasure,” he got amazing reviews for his performance as a popular TV personality who may be hiding a dark secret.
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Robbie Coltrane, a veteran Scottish-born comic and actor known for his star turns in the British crime series 'Cracker' and as Hagrid in the 'Harry Potter' movie franchise, has died https://t.co/sPGj73gaYs pic.twitter.com/u9EAcOMIjl
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) October 14, 2022
His “Nuns on the Run” co-star Eric Idle tweeted on Friday that he had been chatting about Coltrane and “wondering where he was” when he learned of his death.
“Such a brilliant and clever dude. A superb actor, a hilarious comedian, and an excellent actor. He was also a great friend “Idle penned a piece.
Coltrane is survived by his sister Annie Rae, ex-wife Rhona Gemmell, and children Spencer and Alice, according to Wright.
FAQs
Has Hagrid from Harry Potter died?
Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid in the Harry Potter films, died at the age of 72. In addition to the ITV detective drama Cracker, he appeared in the James Bond flicks Goldeneye and The World Is Not Enough. His agent, Belinda Wright, confirmed the actor’s death in a hospital near Falkirk, Scotland, in a statement.
When was Hagrid’s death?
3:24 p.m. on October 14, 2022, LONDON, England (AP) – Robbie Coltrane, the baby-faced comic and character actor who played a crime-solving psychologist on the TV show “Cracker” and the compassionate half-giant Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” films, has died. He was 72.
In Harry Potter, how many actors played Hagrid?
The late Robbie Coltrane played Hagrid in all eight Harry Potter films, beginning with Philosopher’s Stone in 2001 and ending with Deathly Hallows – Part 2 in 2011.
How tall is the actor Hagrid?
But none of those jobs prepared Mr. Coltrane for the character of Hagrid, a fan favorite from the “Harry Potter” books whose big-screen debut would face the sky-high expectations of millions of young readers. Mr. Coltrane was a convincing 8-foot-6 half-giant.