Robbie Coltrane
Robbie Coltrane OBE | |
---|---|
Born | Anthony Robert McMillan 30 March 1950 Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, Scotland |
Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
Occupation |
|
Years active | 1979–present |
Spouse(s) | Rhona Gemmell
(m. 1999; div. 2003) |
Children | 2 |
Anthony Robert McMillan OBE (born 30 March 1950), known professionally as Robbie Coltrane, is a Scottish actor, writer and comedian and is known for his performances on the stage and screen. He gained worldwide recognition as Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter film series (2001–2011), and as Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky in the James Bond films GoldenEye (1995) and The World Is Not Enough (1999). He was appointed as Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2006 New Year Honours by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to drama. In 2011, he was honoured for his "outstanding contribution" to film at the British Academy Scotland Awards.
He started his career appearing alongside Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, and Emma Thompson in the sketch series Alfresco (1983-1984). In 1987, he starred in the BBC miniseries Tutti Frutti alongside Thompson for which he received his first British Academy Television Award for Best Actor nomination. Coltrane then gained national prominence starring as criminal psychologist Dr. Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald in the ITV television series Cracker (1993–2006), a role which saw him receive the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor in three consecutive years (1994 to 1996). In 2006, Coltrane came eleventh in ITV's poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars, voted by the public.[1] In 2016 he starred in the four part Channel 4 series National Treasure alongside Julie Walters, a role for which he received a British Academy Television Award nomination. In 1990, Coltrane received the Evening Standard British Film Award – Peter Sellers Award for Comedy.
Coltrane has appeared in films such as the Neil Jordan neo-noir Mona Lisa (1987), Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare adaptation Henry V (1989), the comedy Let It Ride (1989), Steven Soderbergh's crime-comedy thriller Ocean's Twelve (2004), Rian Johnson's caper film The Brothers Bloom (2008), Mike Newell's Dickens film adaptation Great Expectations (2012), and Emma Thompson's biographical film Effie Gray (2014). He is also known for his voice performances in the animated films The Tale of Despereaux (2008), and Pixar's Brave (2012).
Early life and education[]
Coltrane was born Anthony Robert McMillan in Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, Scotland, the son of Jean Ross Howie, a teacher and pianist, and Ian Baxter McMillan, a general practitioner who also served as a forensic police surgeon.[2] He has an older sister, Annie, and a younger sister, Jane. Coltrane is the great-grandson of Scottish businessman Thomas W. Howie and the nephew of businessman Forbes Howie.
He started his education at Belmont House School in Newton Mearns before moving to Glenalmond College, an independent school in Perthshire. Though he later described his experiences there as deeply unhappy, he played for the rugby First XV, was head of the school's debating society and won prizes for his art.[3] From Glenalmond, Coltrane went on to Glasgow School of Art, where he was ridiculed for "having an accent like Prince Charles" (which he quickly disposed of, though not before gaining the nickname "Lord Fauntleroy"), and thereafter Moray House College of Education (now part of the University of Edinburgh) in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Coltrane later called for private schools to be banned and used to be known as "Red Robbie",[4] rebelling against his conservative upbringing through involvement with Amnesty International, Greenpeace, the Labour Party and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
Career[]
Coltrane moved into acting in his early twenties, taking the stage name Coltrane (in tribute to jazz saxophonist John Coltrane)[5] and working in theatre and comedy. Appearing in the 1981 BBC television comedy series A Kick Up the Eighties, his comic skills also brought him roles in The Comic Strip Presents (1982) series and the comedy sketch shows Alfresco (1983–1984) and Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee (1984).
Coltrane moved into roles in films such as Flash Gordon (1980), Death Watch (1980), Balham, Gateway to the South (1981), Scrubbers (1983), Krull (1983), The Supergrass (1985), Defence of the Realm (1985), Absolute Beginners (1986), Mona Lisa (1986) and appeared as "Annabelle" in The Fruit Machine (1988).
On television, he appeared in The Young Ones, Tutti Frutti (1987), as Samuel Johnson in Blackadder (1987) (a role he later reprised in the more serious Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Islands (1993)), and in a number of stand-up and sketch comedy shows. He played the part of Falstaff in Kenneth Branagh's Henry V (1989) He co-starred with Eric Idle in Nuns on the Run (1990), and played the Pope in The Pope Must Die (1991). He also played a would-be private detective obsessed with Humphrey Bogart in the TV play The Bogie Man.
His roles continued in the 1990s with the TV series Cracker (1993–1996, returning in 2006 for a one-off special), in which he starred as forensic psychologist Dr. Edward "Fitz" Fitzgerald.[6] The role won him three BAFTA awards.
Roles in bigger films followed; the James Bond films GoldenEye (1995) and The World Is Not Enough (1999), a supporting role in From Hell (2001), as well as half-giant Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter films (2001–2011). J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, had Coltrane at the top of her list to play Hagrid and, when asked whom she would like to see in the role, responded "Robbie Coltrane for Hagrid" in one quick breath.[7][8]
Coltrane has also presented a number of documentary programmes for the British ITV network based around his twin passions for travel and transportation. Coltrane in a Cadillac (1993) saw him cross North America from Los Angeles to New York behind the wheel of a 1951 Cadillac Series 62 coupe convertible, a journey of 3,765 miles (6,059 km) which he completed in 32 days.
In 1997, Coltrane appeared in a series of six programmes under the title Coltrane's Planes and Automobiles, in which he extolled the virtues of the steam engine, the diesel engine, the supercharger, the V8 engine, the two-stroke engine, and the jet engine. In these programmes he dismantled and rebuilt several engines. He also single-handedly removed the engine from a Trabant car in 23 minutes.
In September 2006, Coltrane was voted No. 11 in ITV's TV's 50 Greatest Stars and sixth in a poll of 2000 adults across the UK to find the 'most famous Scot', behind the Loch Ness Monster, Robert Burns, Sean Connery, Robert the Bruce and William Wallace.[1]
In August 2007, Coltrane presented a series for ITV called B-Road Britain, in which he travelled from London to Glasgow, stopping in towns and villages along the way.
Personal life[]
Coltrane married Rhona Gemmell on 11 December 1999. The couple have two children: son Spencer (b. 1992), and daughter Alice (b. 1998). Coltrane and Gemmell separated in 2003 and later divorced.[9]
Coltrane suffers from osteoarthritis.[10]
Acting credits[]
Film[]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1980 | Flash Gordon | Man at airfield | |
Death Watch | Limousine Driver | ||
1981 | Subway Riders | Crime Detective | |
1982 | Britannia Hospital | Striking worker on picket line | Cameo role |
1983 | Ghost Dance | George | |
Krull | Rhun | ||
1984 | Chinese Boxes | Harwood | |
1985 | National Lampoon's European Vacation | Man in bathroom | |
The Supergrass | Det. Sgt. Troy | ||
Defence of the Realm | Leo McAskey | ||
1986 | Caravaggio | Scipione | |
Mona Lisa | Thomas | ||
1987 | Eat the Rich | Jeremy | |
1988 | The Fruit Machine | Annabelle | |
1989 | Henry V | Falstaff | |
Bert Rigby, You're a Fool | Sid Trample | ||
Let It Ride | Ticket Seller | ||
Danny, the Champion of the World | Victor Hazell | ||
Slipstream | Montclaire | ||
1990 | Fat | ||
Nuns on the Run | Charlie McManus Sister Inviolata |
||
Perfectly Normal | Alonzo Turner | ||
1991 | The Pope Must Die | The Pope | |
Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole | Steffano Baccardi | ||
1992 | Oh, What a Night | Todd | |
1993 | Boswell & Johnson's Tour of the Western Isles | Dr. Samuel Johnson | |
The Adventures of Huck Finn | Duke | ||
1995 | GoldenEye | Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky | |
1997 | Buddy | Dr. Bill Lintz | |
1998 | Frogs for Snakes | Al | |
Montana | The Boss | ||
1999 | The World Is Not Enough | Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky | |
Message in a Bottle | Charlie Toschi | ||
2001 | On the Nose | Delaney | |
From Hell | Sergeant Peter Godley | ||
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | Rubeus Hagrid | ||
2002 | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | ||
2004 | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | ||
Ocean's Twelve | Matsui | ||
Van Helsing: The London Assignment | Mr. Hyde | Voice | |
Van Helsing | Mr. Hyde | Voice | |
2005 | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | Rubeus Hagrid | |
2006 | Stormbreaker | The Prime Minister | |
Provoked | Lord Edward Foster | ||
2007 | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | Rubeus Hagrid | |
2008 | The Tale of Despereaux | Gregory | Voice |
The Brothers Bloom | The Curator | ||
2009 | Gooby | Gooby | Voice |
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince | Rubeus Hagrid | ||
2010 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 | ||
2011 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 | ||
2012 | Brave | Lord Dingwall | Voice |
Great Expectations | Mr. Jaggers | ||
2014 | Effie Gray | Doctor |
Television[]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1979 | Play for Today | Jimmie | "Waterloo Sunset" |
1980 | Border Post Guard | "Keep Us Alive" | |
1981 | Metal Mickey | Jason | "Mickey the Demon Barber" |
1981–84 | A Kick Up the Eighties | All 10 episodes | |
1981 | Keep It in the Family | Mr. Conway | "A Matter of Principle" |
1982 | Sin on Saturday | Himself | 3 episodes |
1982 | The Comic Strip Presents | Various roles | Episode: "Five Go Mad in Dorset" |
1983 | Are You Being Served | C.B. Voice | Voice; Episode: "Calling All Customers" |
Alfresco | Various roles | 13 episodes | |
1984 | Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee | Various roles | |
1984 | The Young Ones | Doctor / Bouncer | Episode "Bambi" Episode "Oil", Captain Blood in "Time" |
1985-86 | Saturday Live | Various roles | Pilot show ("On The Waterfront" film spoof) Show 10 ("The Third Man" film spoof) |
1987 | Blackadder the Third | Samuel Johnson | "Ink and Incapability" |
1987 | Tutti Frutti | Danny McGlone | 6 episodes |
1988 | Friday Night Live | Various roles including "Uncle Don Corleone" |
Show 6 |
1988 | Blackadder's Christmas Carol | The Spirit of Christmas | Christmas special |
1989 | The Robbie Coltrane Special | LWT comedy Special[11] | |
1990 | Danny Champion of the World | Victor Hazell | |
1991 | Screen One | Psychiatrist Liam Kane | Episode: "Alive And Kicking" |
1993 | The Legend of Lochnagar | The old man | TV film, voice |
1993-06 | Cracker | Dr. Eddie 'Fitz' Fitzgerald | 25 episodes |
1997 | Coltrane's Planes and Automobiles | Himself | 6-part documentary |
1998 | The Ebb-Tide | Capt. Chisholm | |
1999 | Alice in Wonderland | Ned Tweedledum | |
2003 | Comic Relief: The Big Hair Do | Hagrid | |
2003 | The Planman | Jack Lennox QC | |
2004 | Pride | James | |
2004 | Frasier | Michael Moon | Episode: "Goodnight, Seattle" |
2005 | Still Game | Davie | Series 4, Episode 3: "Dial-A-Bus" |
2006 | Cracker: Nine Eleven | Dr. Eddie 'Fitz' Fitzgerald | Television movie |
2007 | Robbie Coltrane – B Road Britain | Himself | TV Documentary |
2009 | Murderland | D.I. Douglas Hain | |
2009 | The Gruffalo | The Gruffalo | Short; Voice |
2011 | Lead Balloon | Donald | Series 4 Episode 4: "Off" Series 4 Episode 5: "Blade" Series 4 Episode 6: "End" |
50 Greatest Harry Potter Moments | Himself | Narrator | |
The Gruffalo's Child | The Gruffalo | Voice; Short[12] | |
2016 | National Treasure | Paul Finchley | TV film |
2016–18 | Robbie Coltrane Critical Evidence | Host | True crime, non fiction |
2019-20 | Urban Myths | Orson Welles | Episode: "Orson Welles In Norwich" |
Theatre[]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1978 | The Slab Boys | Jack Hogg | Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh |
1980 | Threads | Performer | Hampstead Theatre, London |
Awards and honours[]
Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1987 | British Academy Television Award | Best Actor | Tutti Frutti | Nominated |
1994 | Cracker | Won | ||
1995 | Won | |||
1996 | Won | |||
1996 | Royal Television Society Award | Best Actor - Male | Won | |
1996 | Broadcasting Press Guild Award | Best Actor | Won | |
2001 | British Academy Film Award | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | Nominated |
2001 | Saturn Award | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated | |
2002 | Phoenix Film Critics Society Award | Best Ensemble Acting | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | Nominated |
2016 | British Academy Television Award | Best Actor | National Treasure | Nominated |
2016 | Royal Television Society Award | Best Actor – Male | Won | |
2016 | Monte-Carlo Television Festival | Outstanding Actor in a Mini Series | Won | |
2016 | Broadcasting Press Guild Award | Best Actor | Won |
Honorary Awards
- Coltrane won the Evening Standard British Film Award – Peter Sellers Award for Comedy 1990.
- He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2006 New Year Honours for his services to drama.
- In 2011, he was honoured for his "outstanding contribution" to film as the British Academy Scotland Awards ("BAFTA Scotland Awards").
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b "ITV to salute '50 greatest stars'". BBC News. BBC Online. 3 July 2006. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
- ^ "Robbie Coltrane's magical career". BBC News. 31 December 2005.
- ^ "Robbie Coltrane biography". Tiscali.co.uk. Archived from the original on 8 April 2009. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
- ^ Paton, Maureen (20 March 2003). "'Hagrid? I'm just Dad'". Telegraph.co.uk. London. Archived from the original on 25 October 2003.
- ^ "Scotland on Sunday". Scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
- ^ "Dr Edward "Fitz" Fitzgerald". Crackertv.co.uk. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
- ^ "j.k. rowling". Neatorama.com. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
- ^ Alderson, Andrew (11 November 2001). "'They really do look as I'd imagined they would inside my head'". The Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
(Accio Quote!, the Largest Archive of J.K. Rowling quotes on the web)
- ^ Hughes, Sarah (17 September 2016). "Robbie Coltrane: the jovial giant with an enduring hint of menace". the Guardian.
- ^ Adejobi, Alicia (14 May 2019). "Harry Potter's Robbie Coltrane left in wheelchair after crippling battle with osteoarthritis leaves him in excruciating pain". Metro. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
- ^ "The Robbie Coltrane Special". Uk.imdb.com. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
- ^ "The Gruffalo's Child". BBC One. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
External links[]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robbie Coltrane. |
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Robbie Coltrane |
- Robbie Coltrane at IMDb
- Robbie Coltrane at the BFI's Screenonline
- 21st-century Scottish male actors
- 1950 births
- Living people
- Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
- Audiobook narrators
- Best Actor BAFTA Award (television) winners
- Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art
- The Comic Strip
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- People educated at Glenalmond College
- People from Rutherglen
- Scottish male film actors
- Scottish male television actors
- Scottish male voice actors
- Scottish male comedians
- 20th-century Scottish male actors