ACTOR PLAYED HAGRID IN ‘HARRY POTTER’ FRANCHISE
Robbie Coltrane, the veteran Scottish actor who played the beloved half-giant Rubeus Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” films and starred in the cult British crime series “Cracker,” died Friday in a hospital in Larbert, Scotland. He was 72.
Belinda Wright, his British agent, said that Coltrane’s family had not disclosed a cause but that he had been “unwell for some time.”
Coltrane veered from the comic to the gritty in a 40-year career in film and television, with turns as an antihero detective in “Cracker” (1993-96), a KGB agent turned ally to James Bond and a gangster who disguises himself as a nun after betraying his fellow criminals in “Nuns on the Run” (1990).
But those roles did little to prepare Coltrane to play Hagrid, a fan favorite from the “Harry Potter” books whose transition to the big screen would face the sky-high expectations of millions of young readers.
Coltrane successfully embodied the 8-foot-6 half-giant. He appeared in all eight “Harry Potter” films, infusing the franchise with warmth even as he towered over the young witches and wizards at the center of the series who were embroiled in a fight against evil.
The first film, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” opened in November 2001 and went on to gross more than $1 billion worldwide, building on the already fervent global fan base of J.K. Rowling’s book series.
Wright, Coltrane’s agent of 40 years, said the role was the reason he received a “stream of fan letters every week for over 20 years.”
Fiercely protective of his privacy, Coltrane gave few interviews and could be hardedged with reporters. But he said he had to cast that gruffness aside when he was embraced by a legion of young “Harry Potter” fans.
“Kids come up to you, and they go, ‘Would you like to sign my book?’ with those big doe-eyes,” he told The Guardian in 2012. “And it’s a serious responsibility.”
Coltrane was born Anthony Robert McMillan on March 30, 1950, in Rutherglen, Scotland, outside Glasgow.
He enrolled in Glasgow School of Art, where he studied drawing and painting but struggled to capture his ideas on canvas.
As the prospect of a future as a painter dimmed, he was encouraged by a drama teacher who told him that he had acting talent after he appeared in a staging of Harold Pinter’s one-act play “The Dumb Waiter,” The Herald reported.
After adopting his stage name as a tribute to great jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, Coltrane found steadier footing when he moved to London. He worked as a stand-up comedian and actor, picking up theater roles and small parts in television and film productions.
He attracted critical acclaim as Dr. Edward Fitzgerald, known as Fitz, the chainsmoking criminal psychologist in the hit series “Cracker.” The role earned him the BAFTA award for best TV actor in 1994, 1995 and 1996.
A turn as Valentin Zukovsky, a former KGB agent turned Russian mafia kingpin, in the James Bond films “GoldenEye” (1995) and “The World is Not Enough” (1999) exposed Coltrane to a broader audience, particularly in the U.S..
Coltrane is survived by his children, Spencer and Alice, and a sister, Annie Rae.