Scottish-born actor and comedian Robbie Coltrane, best known for his role as Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies, has died at age 72.
His death was confirmed by his agency WME, per the Hollywood Reporter. Coltrane also appeared in the ITV drama Cracker, and had parts in the James Bond films Goldeneye and The World Is Not Enough.
“For me personally I shall remember him as an abidingly loyal client. As well as being a wonderful actor, he was forensically intelligent, brilliantly witty and after 40 years of being proud to be called his agent, I shall miss him,” said his agent Belinda Wright in a statement to BBC. “He is survived by his sister Annie Rae, his children Spencer and Alice and their mother Rhona Gemmell. They would like to thank the medical staff at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert for their care and diplomacy.”
Among those to share tributes to Coltrane was Stephen Fry, who wrote on Twitter that he would be “so dreadfully missed.”
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling took a break from her recent campaigns against children’s charities to share a tribute to the actor.
“He was an incredible talent, a complete one off,” she wrote.
Coltrane got his breakout role in actor as Dr. Edward “Fitz” Fitzgerald” in Cracker, which aired 25 episode from 1993 to 2006. His last appearance as Hagrid was in the 2019 short film Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.
The Harry Potter cast mourned their loss on Friday. “Robbie was one of the funniest people I’ve met and used to keep us laughing constantly as kids on the set,” Daniel Radcliffe said in a statement, perPeople. “I’ve especially fond memories of him keeping our spirits up on [2004’s Harry Potter and the] Prisoner of Azkaban, when we were all hiding from the torrential rain for hours in Hagrid’s hut and he was telling stories and cracking jokes to keep morale up.”
“I feel incredibly lucky that I got to meet and work with him and very sad that he’s passed,” Radcliffe continued. “He was an incredible actor and a lovely man.”
Matthew Lewis, who played Neville Longbottom, shared on Twitter as well, “Robbie. Bobser. He called me Space Boy. We shared a love of the final frontier. He didn’t give a fuck and it always made you smile. A giant, in more ways than one. We had some times x.”
RIP.
