Harry Potter's Great British Thespians
Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid, 1-8
Most of Potter thespians came to their roles after playing Shakespeare and Shaw. Coltrane, 60, started his career as a stand-up comic. Born Anthony Robert McMillan (he took his stage name in tribute to jazz saxophonist John Coltrane), this big Scotsman graduated to starring roles on TV, notably as the forensic psychologist Eddie Fitzgerald in the long-running ITV and A&E crime series Cracker. (Coltrane's father had been a police pathologist in Glasgow.) His performance as the Russian mob boss Valentin Zukovsky battling James Bond in Goldeneye won him an encore in The World Is Not Enough. J.K. Rowling chose Coltrane to play the half-Giant Hagrid — large of stature and heart, and Harry's most devoted, reliable friend on the Hogwarts staff.