Robbie Coltrane

The Scottish actor and comedian who played Rubeus Hagrid.

Robbie Coltrane (31 March 1950 – 14 October 2022), born Anthony Robin McMillan, was a Scottish actor, comedian and author best known as Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter films from 2001 to 2011 and as Dr. Eddie Fitzgerald in the crime drama Cracker.

He took his stage name in tribute to the jazz saxophonist John Coltrane and started out in theatre and comedy in his early twenties.

Quick Facts

Birth name: Anthony Robin McMillan
Born: 31 March 1950
Birthplace: Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Died: 14 October 2022
Place of death: Larbert, Falkirk, Scotland
Education: Glasgow School of Art
Occupation: Actor
Years active: 1978–2022

Facts from the source article.

Background

Born in Rutherglen to a teacher and a GP, he boarded at Glenalmond College, an experience he later described as deeply unhappy, and studied painting at the Glasgow School of Art. Known as Red Robbie for his politics, he once called for private schools to be banned.

He appeared with Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson in the sketch series Alfresco and in The Comic Strip, earned a BAFTA nomination for the 1987 miniseries Tutti Frutti, and then won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Actor three years running from 1994 as the criminal psychologist Fitz in Cracker.

In film he played the Russian gangster Valentin Zukovsky in the Bond films GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough, and appeared in Mona Lisa, From Hell and Ocean's Twelve, as well as voicing roles in The Gruffalo, Arthur Christmas and Brave. He was appointed an OBE in 2006.