Harry Potter and Cracker actor Robbie Coltrane has died aged 72, his agent has said.
The Scottish-born actor, known for playing the Hogwarts gamekeeper Hagrid and criminal psychologist Dr Eddie ‘Fitz’ Fitzgerald in the 1990s crime drama Cracker, died on Friday.
In a statement, his agent of 40 years, Belinda Wright, said the actor will “probably be best remembered for decades to come as Hagrid”, which has “prompted a stream of fan letters every week for over 20 years.”
Image: From left: Emma Watson, Robbie Coltrane, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Jason Isaacs in 2002. Pic: Reuters/Stephen Hird SH/ASA
She described Coltrane, whose real name is Anthony Robert McMillan, as a “wonderful actor” and “forensically intelligent”.
Coltrane won best actor at the British Academy Television Awards three years running for his role in Cracker and was made an OBE in the 2006 New Year’s honours list.
His agent did not give details on his death – but said Coltrane’s family thanked the team at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert for their care.
‘A complete one-off’
Harry Potter author JK Rowling tweeted an image with Coltrane and said: “I’ll never know anyone remotely like Robbie again. He was an incredible talent, a complete one off…”.
Stephen Fry, who starred with Coltrane in the comedy series Alfresco, said the actor will be “dreadfully missed”.
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He said he met Coltrane almost 40 years ago and added: “Such depth, power & talent: funny enough to cause helpless hiccups & honking as we made our first TV show, ‘Alfresco'”, and added “Farewell, old fellow. You’ll be so dreadfully missed”.
Fellow Harry Potter star James Phelps, who played Fred Weasley, said he will miss the “random chats about all subjects under the sun”, as he recalled his first memory with the actor.
‘A Scottish entertainment legend’
Image: Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Pic: Lux/The Hollywood Archive/Alamy
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon described Coltrane as a “Scottish entertainment legend” and said he will be “hugely missed”.
Actor Robert Lindsay, who starred alongside Coltrane in the 1989 film Bert Rigby, You’re a Fool paid tribute to his “dear pal”, adding: “We shared a Hollywood journey that will live with me forever”.
Coltrane is survived by his sister Annie Rae, his children Spencer and Alice and their mother Rhona Gemmell.
He was born in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire and attended Glasgow School of Art and Moray House College of Education in Edinburgh.
It is “pretty surreal”, Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon admits, finding herself at the top of The New York Times bestsellers list.
When I meet the actress alongside her co-writer, best-selling author Harlan Coben, overnight the pair have learned that their thriller is now at number one.
He jokes: “I was texting her last night and saying you’ll now have to call yourself number one bestselling novelist, forget about Oscar winner!”
Image: Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben told Katie Spencer about their novel Gone Before Goodbye
As one of the most successful authors in the world, Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground.
Not content with running a hugely successful production company responsible for a string of hits, as well as one of the most successful book clubs in the world, she explains she felt compelled to give writing a try.
“People want you to stay in your lane… as a creative person I think it’s impossible to just choose one kind of life.
“Creativity is infinite and who I was as a creative person when I was 20 is very different from the person I am now at 49.”
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Gone Before Goodbye, a thriller about a talented surgeon who finds herself caught up in a deadly conspiracy, is the result of Witherspoon daring to put her head above the parapet.
Image: Witherspoon says she felt compelled to give writing a try
Coben admits he was “a little wary” at first.
“I don’t co-write novels but when she made the pitch and started talking about it, I was like ‘dang that’s good, we can do something with that’.”
While countless celebrities work with ghostwriters, Coben says: “I said to her from day one ‘it’s only going to be you and me in here… no third person in here, I don’t do that’. So every word you [read] comes from Reese and me.”
Image: Coben has sold over 80 million books to date, while for Witherspoon this is new ground
Witherspoon explains: “He was like ‘if we’re going to do this, it’s going to have to be at a really high level because people going to expect a lot, so our bar was really high.”
“I said to her, in the beginning, novels are like a sausage,” Coben laughs. “You might like the final taste, but you don’t want to see how it was made and Reese got to see the full sausage getting made here.”
When it came to writing, Coben says they “fell into a rhythm right away”, working together in three-hour stints, “back and forth with a yellow legal pad – what about this? What about that?”
Image: Coben says they ‘fell into a rhythm right away’
Witherspoon says it “feels really deeply personal” to have their work now in print.
“Usually, as an actor, I walk into other people’s worlds and it’s already set up… but this was creating the whole world with Harlan and just from beginning to end feels very personal.”
While the story seems an obvious fit for being adapted to the screen, perhaps with a certain blonde actress in the leading role, Coben says that was never their intention.
“The biggest, biggest mistake novelists make when you write a book is to say ‘this would make a really great movie’. A book is a book, a movie is a movie, and we both focused on wanting this to be just a great reading experience.”
Given that their collaboration is already selling in big numbers, will the pair team up again to write a second?
Witherspoon says: “Let’s just see what people think of this one first.”
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Associate professor of neurology Dr Laura Stein told Sky’s US partner NBC News: ” The most well-described risk factors include a predisposition [family history of aneurysm], high blood pressure, cigarette smoking and inflammation.”
She went on to explain that most fatal ruptured aneurysms are in the brain, killing about one in three patients.
“When it’s a blood vessel that’s in the head and it bleeds, there’s a much higher risk of having a very bad problem just because the brain is enclosed in a fixed space,” Dr Stein added.
Low-risk aneurysms are monitored by doctors for growth or abnormalities, and there are a series of potential treatment options for those considered dangerous.
Elsewhere in The Kardashians clip, Kim admitted that her ex-husband Kanye West will be in her life “no matter what” because of the four kids they share together.