How Robbie Coltrane’s masterful legacy will live on as Hagrid and beyond, just as he intended

thesun.co.uk:

ACTOR Robbie Coltrane was the larger-than-life star who brought Harry Potter’s pal Hagrid to the big screen — and he was always proud of how the character’s legacy would long outlive him.

The Scot said in an interview last year that people will still be watching Harry Potter movies in 50 years’ time. And in prematurely prescient words, he said: “I’ll not be here, sadly — but Hagrid will.” After he died aged 72  yesterday, Robbie   was lauded even more enthusiastically by his devoted fans than ever before — as acting royalty, a British screen icon and a true national treasure.

It’s hard to disagree, and as Harry Potter author JK Rowling put it last night: “He was a complete one-off.” Born Anthony Robert McMillan in an upmarket suburb of Glasgow, Coltrane was expensively educated at a smart boarding school where he described “legalised violence” as the preferred method of discipline.

READ MORE ROBBIE COLTRANEFINAL PIC Last pic of Robbie Coltrane sees him chat with Harry Potter co-star Emma WatsonCOLTRANE’S PAIN Star was heartbroken after split from wife – but he found love again He later attended the Glasgow School of Art where he first studied painting before swapping to theatre — a move that would eventually take him to roles on the small and big screens, including a memorable appearance in the James Bond franchise.