Scottish actor, Anthony Robert McMillan OBE, known professionally Robbie Coltrane, best known for his role as Rubeus Hagrid in all eight of Harry Potter films has died on Friday, 14th October, 2022.
Coltrane’s agent and friend, Belinda Wright, released a statement sharing of his passing on Friday.
According to reports, the actor had been in ill health for the past two years and died in Larbert, Scotland, in a hospital close to his home.
Coltrane who also had been struggling with osteoarthritis, had an ‘exploratory operation’ which doctors found he had no cartilage left in one of his knee, in 2016.
Coltrane gained worldwide recognition as Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter film series where he played the role of the Hogwarts keeper of keys and grounds, and was one of the first person, the character Harry meets from the Wizarding World on his 11th birthday before setting off to Hogwarts, and becomes a mentor of sorts for the boy wizard in the movie and continued to play Hagrid for 10 years until the films ended in 2011 with “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.”
Coltrane until his death, had appeared in movies like 2004’s ‘Ocean Twelve‘ and the James Bond film ‘Golden Eye’ released in 1995 and ‘The world is not enough’ in 1999, as well as on a British TV series Cracker and had about 114 lifetime screen-acting credits over a career that spanned more than for decades.
He also received several accolades over his career, including multiple British Academy Television Awards, the British Academy film Awards, BAFTA Awards and was also he was awarded the Officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE in 2006, by Queen Elizabeth for his services to drama.
Coltrane’s half-giant Harry Potter character Hagrid, the ‘Hogwarts keeper of keys and grounds’, is the first person Harry meets from the Wizarding World on his 11th birthday before setting off to Hogwarts, and becomes a mentor for the boy wizard.
Coltrane is survived by his sister Annie Rae, two children, Alice and Spencer, and mother to his kids, Rhona Gemmell.
Story: Hilda Katu
