Robbie Coltrane^†

Before Harry Potter swallowed everything, Cracker made him. He played Dr. Edward 'Fitz' Fitzgerald, a criminal psychologist with a gambling addiction and the emotional stability of a train wreck, across three ITV seasons and won the BAFTA for Best Actor three years running from 1994. British television rarely produces that kind of sustained recognition. When J.K. Rowling was asked who she wanted for Hagrid, she said 'Robbie Coltrane' before the question was finished.

The Hagrid association is total and probably permanent. He spent ten years in a prosthetic suit and latex padding, appearing in all eight films, and somehow made a CGI-enhanced giant feel like the warmest presence in the room. The franchise kept running in theme parks and streaming after his death in October 2022, which means his version of Hagrid keeps finding new audiences who have no idea he spent the 1990s winning three consecutive BAFTAs. That might be the trade he made.

He was born Anthony Robert McMillan and took the name Coltrane as a tribute to jazz musician John Coltrane, which tells you something about the career he thought he was going to have. He trained at Glasgow School of Art, not drama school, before moving into comedy and drama. He's said his children pushed him toward the Hagrid role; he wasn't initially certain. He could reportedly identify and reproduce over 100 British regional accents, a skill that rarely surfaced once the prosthetic beard went on.

His death certificate, released nine days after he died, listed multiple organ failure complicated by sepsis, a lower respiratory tract infection, and heart block as the causes. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint all issued statements when the news broke. J.K. Rowling wrote on Twitter she'd 'never know anyone remotely like Robbie again.' He died at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, Scotland.