By: Rachel Ali
Robbie Coltrane, the Scottish actor most famously known as Hagrid in Harry Potter, has passed away at 72.
According to sources such as BBC News, Coltrane passed away in a hospital near Falkirk, ScotlandFalkirk Scotland. Coltrane is well known for work outside of Harry Potter such as Brave, The Tale of Despereaux, and the James Bond GoldenEye film.
Many of Coltrane’s co-stars sent out their regards and respect. Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe were among the people to make statements about Coltrane.
J.K Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, tweeted a picture of her and Coltrane on Twitter to pay her respects.
“I’ll never know anyone remotely like Robbie again,” wrote Rowling. “He was an incredible talent, a complete one off, and I was beyond fortunate to know him, work with him and laugh my head off with him. I send my love and deepest condolences to his family, above all his children.”
According to the BBC, Coltrane had won multiple awards, some from the OBE Awards in 2006 and the Bafta Scotland Award in 2011. However, even with these awards, many people like senior finance major at UT, Ashley Hanlon, remember Coltrane for his most iconic role.
“He was definitely one of my favorite characters from when I read the books,” said Hanlon. “I always like how he had Harry’s back and was like a father to him when he didn’t have a real family.”
Coltrane’s well known role as Hagrid has left many people remembering him as a seven foot tall character. However, this image is not quite the reality. Hanlon was surprised to find out that Coltrane was not actually as big as he seemed in the films. He is slightly over six feet but had a body double during filming that was nearly seven feet, to give Hagrid the height we know from the movies.
“I genuinely don’t think twice about his size,” said Hanlon. “But it makes sense that he actually wasn’t that big. As a kid I never really thought about it.”
Coltrane is survived by his sister, children, and his children’s mother. With Gen Z getting older, beloved childhood stars passing away has become more common.
Kathleen Cheney, a senior education major at UT, noticed that as she becomes an adult, actors and singers she looks up to are passing away.
“It is probably just going to keep happening,” said Cheney. “As we get older, more actors that we knew as kids will pass away.”
Cheney was not the biggest fan of Harry Potter but can understand how celebrity deaths can affect everyone.
“I think when a celebrity dies, it’s different because they seem unstoppable in a way,” said Cheney. “Since you see them on a screen all the time, you don’t think that bad things can happen to them. I feel like these events show how short life is and how everyone is human at the end of the day.”