British actor Robbie Coltrane, Hagrid in ‘Harry Potter’, dies at 72

British actor Robbie Coltrane, world famous for playing Hagrid, the giant who looks after the gardens and forests of the Hogwarts school of magic in the ‘Harry Potter’ movie franchise, died on Friday at the age of 72, his agent reported.

“It was a role which brought joy to children and adults alike all over the world, prompting a stream of fan letters every week for over 20 years,” his agent said in a statement quoted by the BBC.

Anthony Robert McMillan, born in Rutherglen, in the suburbs of Glasgow, in 1950, came to his most internationally recognized role after a long career in British film and television. After appearing in several small roles, in 1983 he joined the cast of the series Al Fresco, in which he coincided with other actors of his generation who would become stars, such as Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry or Emma Thompson. But the series that launched him to fame as a protagonist in the United Kingdom was Cracker (1993), in which he played a psychologist in the service of the Manchester police.

In film, in addition to the role of Hagrid, Coltrane played Falstaff in Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V (1989) and a Russian spy turned James Bond’s assistant in two films of the superspy’s saga (Goldeneye and The World Is Not Enough). Coltrane, who adopted his stage name because of his passion for jazzman John Coltrane, was divorced and had two children.