Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane, who played half-giant 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.
The actor, born Anthony Robert McMillan, appeared in dozens of films and TV shows, but is perhaps known best to “Harry Potter” fans as Hagrid, the good-natured half-giant groundskeeper of Hogwarts and a mentor to Harry as he navigated the wizarding world.
He rose to fame as a hard-bitten detective in the 1990s series “Cracker,” for which he won best actor 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.
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.
Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling, in a tribute shared on her Twitter page on Friday, described the actor as an incredible talent, adding that she would never know anyone remotely like him.
“I’ll never know anyone remotely like Robbie again. He was an incredible talent, a complete one off, and I was beyond fortunate to know him, work with him and laugh my head off with him. I send my love and deepest condolences to his family, above all, his children,” she tweeted.
