Actor Richard Griffiths, who starred in the Harry Potter films and Withnail and I, has died at the age of 65 after complications following heart surgery.
Griffiths enjoyed a long career of success on film and on TV, but also on the stage where he was a Tony-winning character actor.
TV roles included a cookery-loving detective in Pie in the Sky.
He was best known for playing Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films and Uncle Monty in Withnail and I.
His Harry Potter co-star Daniel Radcliffe – who also appeared on stage with him in Equus – was among the first to pay tribute, saying: “Richard was by my side during two of the most important moments of my career. I was proud to know him.
“Any room he walked into was made twice as funny and twice as clever just by his presence,” he said.
On stage, Griffiths’ most acclaimed performance was as the charismatic teacher Hector in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys.
After achieving a rare double of winning a Tony Award in New York and an Olivier Award in London, he recreated the role in a 2006 film version.
But it was his role as the predatory Uncle Monty in Withnail And I – which has become of one of the biggest cult classics in British cinema history – that made him a fan favourite.
In a message to his co-star on Twitter, the actor Richard E. Grant said: “My beloved Uncle Monty Richard Griffiths died last night. Chin-Chin my dear friend.”
Griffiths was born in Thornaby-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, and left school at 15 but later returned to education to study drama, before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company.
He married Heather Gibson in 1980 after they met during a production of Lady Windermere’s Fan in 1973.
His early TV career saw him land bit parts in series such as Minder, The Sweeney and Bergerac, while he also played small parts in major films such as Chariots of Fire, Superman II and Gandhi before the big breakthrough came in Withnail and I.
