Robbie Coltrane Dies at 72:  “I Won’t Be Here, Sadly. But Hagrid Will.”

Robbie Coltrane became famous the world over as a literal gentle giant, playing the towering but tender Hogwarts groundskeeper Hagrid in the Harry Potter films. He played many other roles in the span of his four decades as a performer, but it was this character—less a father figure and more of an extremely big brother—who made him iconic, despite being buried beneath a great big bushy beard and a cascade of unruly hair. The kindness in Coltrane’s eyes was unmistakable. 

Coltrane died on Friday at the age of 72, according to his agent. No details were provided about the cause of death. 

The news caused an outpouring of grief from fans who knew him as the lovable half-giant in the mega-franchise, as well as from the actors who played opposite him. “Robbie was one of the funniest people I’ve met and used to keep us laughing constantly as kids on the set,” Daniel Radcliffe said in an Instagram post featuring photos of them together from a 2001 red carpet for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. “I’ve especially fond memories of him keeping our spirits up on Prisoner of Azkaban, when we were all hiding from the torrential rain for hours in Hagrid’s hut and he was telling stories and cracking jokes to keep morale up. I feel incredibly lucky that I got to meet and work with him and very sad that he’s passed. He was an incredible actor and a lovely man.”

When the first film debuted, author J.K. Rowling said Coltrane was at the top of her personal wish list for actors to play Rubeus Hagrid. “Robbie is just perfect for Hagrid because Hagrid is a very loveable character, quite likable, quite comic,” she said. “But you really do have to have a certain toughness underneath. I think Robbie does that perfectly.” As word of his death emerged, Rowling posted her own photograph and remembrance on Twitter. 

The actor was born Anthony Robert McMillan in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of a doctor and a schoolteacher.  He began acting professionally in the late ‘70s, doing stage and television work, before graduating to small parts in movies such as 1980’s Flash Gordon and the 1983 sci-fi drama Krull, 1985’s European Vacation ,and 1986’s neo-noir Mona Lisa. He could play both laughs and tragedy, but his talents as a comic actor most propelled his career.

In 1989, Kenneth Branagh cast him in his big-screen adaptation of Henry V, portraying one of William Shakespeare’s most beloved characters—the lovable, hard-drinking gadabout John Falstaff. But Coltrane could also go deliciously lowbrow, as with 1990’s Nuns on the Run, starring opposite Eric Idle as two bank robbers who hide out disguised as … you guessed it.

Coltrane appeared in two of Pierce Brosnan‘s outings as James Bond, 1995’s GoldenEye and 1999’s The World Is Not Enough, playing a former KGB foe turned underworld figure (and reluctant 007 ally) Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky. He also starred in the 1990s BBC mystery series Cracker, playing an astute criminal psychologist whose personal life is a disaster.