Born on 31st July 1947, British actor Richard Griffiths was known for his roles in “Chariots of Fire”, “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”, “Gandhi”, and “Withnail & I”. However, it was when he snagged the part of Harry Potter’s uncle, Uncle Vernon Dursley that he shot to international fame. The Harry Potter film installments in which he acted in garnered him his biggest audience of his entire acting career.
You could say it’s something for the history books.
Over the weekend, however, it was reported that the portly star of stage and screen had died after suffering complications following heart surgery.
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Although as Uncle Vernon Dursley, he might have come off as just a tad mean due to the nature of his character, Daniel Radcliffe (who plays the boy wizard in the blockbuster series) says otherwise. Upon the news of Richard’s death, Daniel led the tributes to a man he said had offered him “encouragement, tutelage, and humour”. In an official statement, Daniel also said, “Any room he walked into was made twice as funny and twice as clever just by his presence. I am proud to say I knew him”.
Richard, one of Britain’s best loved character actors, will be sorely missed. Rest in peace.
(Source)
