Actor Robbie Coltrane, best known for his compelling portrayal of Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter series, died on Friday at age 72. His agent Belinda Wright put out a statement revealing that he passed away at a hospital near Falkirk, Scotland.
“For me personally I shall remember him as an abidingly loyal client,” BBC quoted her. “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.”
The Harry Potter cast is expressing their condolences and sharing fond memories with the actor, whose role as the friendly, compassionate half-giant groundskeeper of Hogwarts will never be forgotten. While Harry Potter gave us many complex grey characters to understand and debate, fans unanimously love Hagrid’s heart of gold and genuine care for Harry and the gang.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling shared a tribute on Twitter, as did actors Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) and James Phelps (Fred Weasley).
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. pic.twitter.com/tzpln8hD9z
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 14, 2022
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
— 🇺🇦Matthew Lewis🇺🇦 (@Mattdavelewis) October 14, 2022
I will miss the random chats about all subjects under the sun.And I'll never forget in September 2000, Robbie Coltrane came over to a very nervous 14yr old me on my 1st ever day on a movie set and said "Enjoy it, you'll be great". Thank you for that x
— James Phelps (@James_Phelps) October 14, 2022
Daniel Radcliffe, who plays the eponymous character in the series, expressed his grief and love for Coltrane in a statement. “I’ve especially fond memories of him keeping our spirits up on 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. He was an incredible actor and a lovely man.” EW quoted his statement.
Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) and Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) shared their sentiments on Instagram.
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Earlier this year, the Harry Potter cast came together for a reunion special on HBO Max titled Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts. Reminiscing his time as Hagrid, Coltrane said of the series, “The legacy of the movies is that my children will show them to their children so you could be watching in 50 years times, easy — I’ll not be here, sadly, but Hagrid will.”
His words ring true today. Robbie Coltrane will live on as Rubeus Hagrid, but also as Valentin Zukovsky in the James Bond film GoldenEye (1995), criminal psychologist Fitz in Cracker (1993 – 1996) and the voice of Lord Dingwall in Disney’s Brave (2012).
