CNN
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Robbie Coltrane, the actor who delivered to life the lovable gamekeeper Hagrid within the Harry Potter movie franchise, died on Friday, in accordance with his agent, Scott Henderson. He was 72.
The Scottish-born actor’s different credit included the British sequence “Cracker” and James Bond movies “GoldenEye” and “The World Is Not Sufficient.”
No particulars on the reason for demise have been instantly offered.
Earlier than Coltrane shot to worldwide fame taking part in the bearded Hagrid, he was honed his comedic abilities on the theatre stage.
Within the ’80s, he appeared in a short-lived sketch sequence known as “Alfresco” alongside powerhouses Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson.
On Friday, Fry honored his former co-star in a statement posted to Twitter.
“I first met Robbie Coltrane virtually precisely 40 years in the past. I used to be awe/terror/love struck all on the similar time. Such depth, energy & expertise: humorous sufficient to trigger helpless hiccups & honking as we made our first TV present, ‘Alfresco,’” he wrote. “Farewell, outdated fellow.
Coltrane reunited with Thompson on the six-part drama sequence “Tutti Frutti,” for which he earned his first finest actor British Academy Tv Award nomination.
His first win could be for the tv sequence “Cracker” within the ’90s. That sequence, a criminal offense drama, ran for 3 seasons from 1993-95, with two subsequent specials.
The position of Hagrid, a half-giant, half-human character, was a pure one for Coltrane. He knew and beloved the books as a result of he learn them to his kids, he recalled in a single interview.
“Should you’re an actor, you need to do the voices. The youngsters anticipate it. No monotones allowed,” he joked.
But it surely was his efficiency, which introduced coronary heart and humanity to the position — a literal mild half-giant — that caught with audiences.
Showing within the HBO Max particular “Harry Potter twentieth Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts,” Coltrane recalled his time on the movies and Hagrid’s affect.
“All people on the earth would love a very huge, large, sturdy, good man on their facet, easy as that. That’s the attraction of Superman and this stuff,” he mentioned. “Hagrid was at all times clearly the great man, wasn’t he?”