Just came up on BBC Breaking news
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Actor Richard Griffiths, who starred in the Harry Potter movies 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.
He was best known for playing Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films and Uncle Monty in Withnail and I.
TV roles included playing a cookery-loving detective in Pie in the Sky.
And on stage, his most acclaimed performance was as the charismatic teacher Hector in Alan Bennett's The History Boys, a role he recreated in the 2006 film version.
He was appointed an OBE in the 2008 New Year Honours.
He was born in Thornaby-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, he first built up a reputation on the stage with a series of comic Shakespearean roles.
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."
Sir Nicholas Hytner, director of the National Theatre, said Griffiths's unexpected death would devastate his "army of friends".
He said: "Richard Griffiths wasn't only one of the most loved and recognisable British actors - he was also one of the very greatest.
"His performance in The History Boys was quite overwhelming: a masterpiece of wit, delicacy, mischief and desolation, often simultaneously."
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Was in Harry Potter as Vernon Dursley, was also in The History Boys (
), Withnail & I, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Hugo and Pirates of the Caribbean 4
29-03-2013, 09:02 AM
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Richard Griffiths passes away
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