Robbie Coltrane, actor who played Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies, dies at 72

The Scottish actor, best known for playing Hagrid in the Harry Potter movie franchise, has died.

Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Robbie Coltrane, best known for playing Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” movie franchise, has died. He was 72.

He died Friday, a spokesman for his agency WME said.

“I’ll never know anyone remotely like Robbie again,” J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, said in a tweet.

Coltrane has died aged 72, his agent said on Friday,

“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,” Ms. Rowling said. “I send my love and deepest condolences to his family, above all his children.” He made his debut as Hagrid, a giant lumbering wizard, in 2001’s “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” He played Hagrid in eight films.

Mr. Coltrane got his start in entertainment working in theatre and comedy. He would go on to appear in more than 60 films, including two James Bond movies.

Coltrane in 1993 TV series Cracker.

Mr. Coltrane was born in 1950 in Scotland with the name Anthony Robert McMillan. He later took the name Coltrane when he began his career in theatre and as a comedian.

His first big role on television came in the 1990s when he was cast to play Dr. Eddie “Fitz” Fitzgerald, a forensic psychologist, in “Cracker.” Later he played a Bond villain in “GoldenEye” and “The World Is Not Enough.”

Mr. Coltrane is survived by his sister Annie Rae, his children Spencer and Alice and their mother Rhona Gemmell.

The Wall Street Journal