R.I.P. Robbie Coltrane, Harry Potter and Cracker star
Coltrane was well-know for his portrayal of Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter films
Aux News Robbie Coltrane
Scottish comedy actor Robbie Coltrane has died at the age of 72. Coltrane made star appearances in franchises such as Harry Potter and James Bond, as well as led the British crime drama Cracker. His death has been confirmed by his agency WME, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Born Anthony Robert McMillan on March 30, 1950, in Glasgow, Scotland, Coltrane was the son of a doctor and teacher. He graduated from Glasgow Art School and would go on to continue his art studies at Moray House College of Education. After his work in the art field garnered little success, Coltrane picked up stand-up comedy, taking on gigs in Edinburgh turning to acting. Upon his pivot to acting, he changed his last name in honor of the famous jazz saxophonist John Coltrane.
Kicking off his acting career in 1979, Coltrane is perhaps best known by contemporary audiences for his role as the half-giant half-wizard Rubeus Hagrid in all of the Harry Potter films, beginning with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001). His warm performance of Hagrid is beloved, as he brought to life the sensitive guide for Potter. Earlier this year, he joined the rest of his Harry Potter cast for the 20th-anniversary special released on HBO Max.
“The legacy of the movies is that my children’s generation will show them to their children,” the late Coltrane said in the special. “So you could be watching it in 50 years time, easy. I’ll not be here, sadly, but Hagrid will, yes.”
Coltrane also notably played Russian mafia head Valentin Zukovsky in the Bond films GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough. During his tenure as the criminal psychologist Dr. Edward ‘Fitz’ Fitzgerald on Cracker, Coltrane earned three consecutive BAFTA best actor awards. He held the role throughout the show’s run from 1993-2006. Coltrane made his final television appearance in 2020 as Orsen Welles on the series Urban Myths.
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as well as led the British crime drama Crackeroutube.com/watch?v=Ob2aQxjDH_s&ab_channel=Joxer1875
He’s right about the items, you know.RIP
Looks like a Scottish Paul Sorvino.
Cracker was a hell of a show.
F
This is sad and unexpected (to me, at least. Apparently he was in poor health for a while).Hagrid’s great, but my favorite Coltrane role is opposite Eric Idle in Nuns on the Run, kind of a cross between Some Like it Hot and A Fish Called Wanda.
I still have my old VHS copy of that movie from way too many years ago.
Loved this guy. RIP.
Aw. He was always delightful when he popped up.But my favorite role of his has to be as Charles Bronson in the Comic Strip Presents…
As Charles Bronson as Ken Livingstone no less!
Never a Potter guy, didn’t see much Cracker either, so it’s mostly the Comic Strip and Comic Strip-adjacent stuff I associate him with.R.I.P. Pope David I
Ken is the Leeeeeaaader of the GLC!
So many great appearances. He’d be barreling in with his charisma set to overwhelm and clearly more than a few drinks in play.
No mention of the fact that he supported jk rowling in all her transphobia?
He’s dead, freshly dead even. Maybe fuck off back to whatever bs corner of the interwebs you crawled out from.
Somebody is probably updating John Cleese’s file obituary right now to mention what a boring, whining shit he turned into. Doing a show on a right-wing propaganda network? OOF.
Half-hearted defense of Rowling isn’t quite as bad but it’s bad enough. Especially since she’s gotten way way way more annoying about it. The amount of time she spends on the subject make you wonder if she’s about to go full Graham Linehan.
God you’re brave.
Cleese doesn’t support all-the-progressive-things so he’s a “boring, whining shit”. Got it.
Look, I’m trans and deeply loath Rowling, and while its regrettable he stood beside her, I don’t have it in me to bad mouth the guy the very day he died. He wasn’t the grand wizard of transphobia, I’d say just let it be.
These people don’t really give a shit about trans rights or anything like that, is my take. They just like using it to engage in a bit supermarket-tabloid-esque hidden behind a facade of concern.
Oh fuck off
Edgy!
Please stop talking. No one owes you anything.
Oh fuck off.
Maybe he supported her because she’s actually not transphobic?
I did not know he was Scottish.
I enjoyed his character in The World Is No Enough and Goldeneye, but I grew up with Harry Potter (books and movies) and always loved the way he played Hagrid. Hagrid felt like the fun uncle that you always want to be around and was by far one of my favorite characters in the series, double so because of Robbies portrayal. RIP Hagrid/Robbie Coltrane.
There’s a lot of great casting in the HP films, but he was easily one of the best.
And also one of the most important castings. We spent a significant amount of time at the beginning of the first movie with Hagrid, who acts as Harry’s guide into that world (and our’s, as well). Miscasting Hagrid would’ve been absolutely disastrous.
RIP to a Scottish legend. I think first remember seeing him in BBC’s Tutti Fruiti (alongside Emma Thompson). Cracker showed what brilliant straight actor he could be, but a lot of his best work was done in comedy.Loved his dictionary work too.
I love how even without the sound, you can tell that he’s saying “sausage” with three syllables.
YESSSSS! Black Adder was so damn good. And he is so funny in this episode. Not just this gif, but the whole damn episode, his overacting (in a good way) and persona was so good.
Christ, I could probably do all his bits word for word, his eccentric emphasis on every bit of the script burns it in your brain. They sure got value when they hired him for that one. Sad to see Ben Elton moaning about “woke” this and “woke” that these days.
Oh, god, of course Elton is one of those. I otherwise enjoy Upstart Crow, but it’s filled with tedious “what’s with the kids these days and their selfie whosiwhatsits?” jokes.
Hey there my AV Club twin! It’s been quite a while! Hope you’re keeping well in good ol’ blighty (I have left the country, by the way – permanently!)I just opened the AV Club homepage and saw the top half of Robbie Coltrane’s picture at the bottom of my screen and thought “Oh dear, I hope he’s not dead!” – then scrolled down to see the dreaded “RIP”. Cracker was my show back in the day, when there were only 5 channels on! Haven’t seen an episode in ages – I wonder if it still holds up.(Random anecdote from university days: once when I was in uni halls of residence, wearing my John Coltrane t-shirt (was a huge fan, had a poster of him on my wall) some guy commented on it, thinking he was a real comedian (“who’s he? any relative of Robbie’s? harhar”) and I responded well, actually, Robbie Coltrane changed his surname in honour of John Coltrane – and this dude thought I was straight-up lying! Back then (96/97) there was no wiki, and no smartphones for me to whip out the proof. Still remember finding it infuriating couldn’t wipe that disbelieving smirk off his face … And he shared this conspiratorial-knowing look with everyone around us, as if to silently say “Can you believe the shit this dude is spewing!”)
Cool fact, hope all is good with you.Those of us still here in Blighty are dealing with the chaos that is the present British Government.
Both of his Black Adder appearances are great. His Christmas spirit look is very proto Hagrid
my sister and I have a theory that J. K. Rowling was inspired to write Hagrid as a sort of jolly Ghost-of-Christmas-Present when she saw Robbie Coltrane in this role.
“Burnt, you say? That’s most unfortunate. A burnt book is like a burnt dog-”“OH SHUT UP”
Coltrane was well-know for his portrayal of Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter films
*well-known
Coltrane made star appearances in franchises such as Harry Potter and James Bond, as well as led the British crime drama Cracker.This sentence is in serious need of a rewrite.
He was so enjoyable in Goldeneye as the kinda friendly Russian mafia boss, just one of many reasons that film is fantastic. Damn, 72 might not be young but it doesn’t feel old anymore, farewell.
“Walther PPK, 7.65 millimeter. Only three men I know use such a gun. I believe I’ve killed two of them.”
Yeah, think I’m gonna watch GoldenEye tonight. RIP.
“My knee aches. Every single day.”
There’s a deleted scene, where a Pakistani gun runner is offering him guns. Absolutely chews it, great scene, but you can’t really see where they’d put it into the film.
My parents are both older than that. Makes me gulp.
Same here. As well as almost all of my uncles and aunts.
I’d have to say he was the last breath of fresh air in the Bond franchise and itit’a shame they didn’t use him in more films. “Cracker” was also a pretty bid deal there for awhile but I wonder if you can even find it on Brit Box these days.As for the Potter movies, I hope he held his nose and laughed all the way to the bank like Alan Rickman did.Rest in peace to a terrific and terrifically likeable actor.
His work on “Behind The Green Door” with Rik Mayall as Kevin Turvey is the stuff of comedy legend.
Damn, I really liked him in the James Bond movies. Thought it was kinda cool how he started out as a sort of pseudo-villain in Goldeneye (and, interestingly enough, they also established Zukovsky as having previous history with Bond even though it was Pierce Brosnan’s very first film in the role), and then they brought him back as a pseudo-good guy in The World Is Not Enough.
Also two great Young Ones appearances, and that Flash Gordon cameo..
he also once threatened to knock out Piers Morgan. If only he’d done so.
Jeremy Clarkson hit him once. Said women asked him why he hit him while men asked with glee where he hit him. Jeremy who is never under no illusions about his physical prowess said he likely hurt himself more than he did Piers in doing so.Piera also faced Brett Lee (Australian bowler) in the cricket nets as a batter for some segment or other. Brett wasn’t even bowling at full speed but may have cracked a rib or two of Piers in the process.
WE WILL HAVE OUR REVENGE FOR BODYLINE, YOU POMMY BASTARDS.
I first saw him in Nuns on the Run with Eric Idle. A terrible movie, I always thought he was hilarious in.
I loved him in as Matsui in Ocean’s 12 – “When I was four years old, I watched my mother kill a spider… with a
tea cosy. Years later, I realised it was not a spider – it was my Uncle
Harold.”I know we’re not supposed to give credence to anything JK Rowling ever said, but as I recall, when the first Potter movie came out, she said that Robbie Coltrane was the actor she imagined for Hagrid when she was writing the books. Pretty sure she said that was the only actor she’d envisioned for if the movies ever got made.So. She was right about that anyway.
Coltrane made Mona Lisa (1986) extra watchable.
Take a look for his sea wall scene in Supergrass. Seriously ballsy. Crap film but great scene.
He was one of those British actors that when he showed up on something, you said “Hey it’s that guys!!”And like many British actors of a generation, he was in Krull
Krull was a special case of casting iirc, like a Shakespeare’s theatre company in full being cast there. The main actor was hot as hell.
One of the bright spots of the Brosnan era, RIP
damn. I know he’s done so much but I will always remember him from the shared bathroom scene from National Lampoons European Vacation:
Damn, this is a downer to start a Saturday on. RIP. I’m weirdly surprised that he was 72, though.
Me too, the actors I associated with him (Rik Mayall, French & Saunders etc.) are or were about 7-10 years younger than him, so I assumed he was the same age.
I’m not seeing nearly enough The Pope Must Die love under this article.
Oh, man, I miss Cracker. Never seen Harry Potter, but even without it, the man’s a legend.