Harry Potter star Robbie Coltrane died aged 72

Robbie Coltrane, the veteran Scottish actor who played the beloved half-giant Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter films and starred in the cult British crime series Cracker, died on Friday in Larbert, Scotland. He was 72.

His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by Belinda Wright, his British agent. Ms. Wright said that Mr. Coltrane’s family had not disclosed a cause, but that he had been “unwell for some time.”

Mr. Coltrane veered from the comic to the gritty in a four-decade career in film and television. He was an antihero detective on “Cracker” (1993-96), a K.G.B. agent turned ally to James Bond in two films, and a gangster who disguises himself as a nun after betraying his fellow criminals in the comedy “Nuns on the Run” (1990), alongside Eric Idle of Monty Python.

But those roles did little to prepare Mr. Coltrane to play Hagrid, a fan favorite from the “Harry Potter” books whose transition to the big screen would face the sky-high expectations of millions of young readers.

Mr. Coltrane successfully embodied the 8-foot-6 half-giant Hagrid, the groundskeeper at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He appeared in all eight Harry Potter films, infusing the franchise with warmth even as he towered over the young witches and wizards at the center of the series who were embroiled in a fight against evil.