Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane, who played the half-giant Rubeus Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” movies, has died. He was 72.
Coltrane’s agent Belinda Wright said he died Friday at a hospital in Scotland. She did not give a cause.
Coltrane was born Anthony Robert McMillan on 30 March 1950 in Rutherglen, Scotland, and he came to fame as a hard-bitten detective and crime-solving psychologist in the 1990s series “Cracker,” for which he won the best actor award at the British Academy Television Awards three years running.
He played gentle half-giant Hagrid, a mentor to the boy wizard, in all eight Harry Potter films released between 2001 and 2011.
He was among one of the first characters to appear on screen, and he recited the famous line, “Yer a wizard, Harry,” to a young Daniel Radcliffe as he embarked on his journey into the wizarding world. A towering figure but a softie at heart, Hagrid had a sweet spot for ferocious beasts and cared for some of the “Harry Potter” world’s most ferocious, and iconic, creatures. Under his care were Buckbeak the hippogriff, Fang the boarhound, Fluffy the three-headed dog, Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback dragon, Aragog the massive talking spider and the eerily majestic Thestrals.
Other roles include a Russian crime boss in the James Bond thrillers “GoldenEye” and “The World is Not Enough.”
Coltrane gained rave reviews for playing a beloved TV star who may harbor a dark secret in the 2016 miniseries “National Treasure.”
Wright said that “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.”
Wright said Coltrane is survived by his sister Annie Rae, his ex-wife Rhona Gemmell and his children Spencer and Alice.