Actor Robbie Coltrane dies, aged 72
Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane, who played a crime-solving psychologist on TV series “Cracker” and the half-giant Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” movies, has died. He was 72. Coltrane’s agent Belinda Wright said he died on Friday at a hospital in Scotland. She did not give a cause. Coltrane came to fame as a hard-bitten detective in the 1990s series “Cracker,” for which he won best actor at the British Academy Television Awards three years running. He played gentle half-giant Hagrid, a mentor to the boy wizard, in all eight Harry Potter films, released between 2001 and 2011. Other roles include a Russian crime boss in the James Bond thrillers “GoldenEye” and “The World is Not Enough.” Coltrane gained rave reviews for playing a beloved TV star who may harbor a dark secret in the 2016 miniseries “National Treasure.” Wright said that “as well as being a wonderful actor, he was forensically intelligent, brilliantly witty and after 40 years of being proud to be called his agent, I shall miss him.” Wright said Coltrane is survived by his sister Annie Rae, his ex-wife Rhona Gemmell and his children Spencer and Alice. (AP)