Robbie Coltrane

Infobox actor


image size = 125px
caption = Coltrane in 2007.
birthname = Anthony Robert McMillan
birthdate = birth date and age|1950|3|30|df=y
birthplace = Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, Scotland
deathdate =
deathplace =
occupation = actor
spouse = Rhona Gemmell (1999-)
baftaawards = Best TV Actor
1994, 1995, 1996 "Cracker"

Robbie Coltrane, OBE (born 30 March 1950), is a Scottish actor, comedian and author.

Biography

Early life

Coltrane was born Anthony Robert McMillan in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, the son of Jean McMillan Ross (née Howie), a teacher and pianist, and Ian Baxter McMillan, a general practitioner who also served as a forensic police surgeon. [ [http://www.filmreference.com/film/73/Robbie-Coltrane.html Robbie Coltrane Biography (1950-) ] ] [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4569860.stm BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Robbie Coltrane's magical career ] ] [ [http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800020819/bio Robbie Coltrane Biography - Yahoo! Movies ] ] He has an older sister, Annie, and a late younger sister, Jane. Coltrane is the great-grandson of Scottish businessman Thomas W. Howie. He was educated at the prestigious Glenalmond College in Perthshire, from which he was nearly expelled after hanging the prefects' gowns from the school clocktower. Though he later described his experiences there as deeply unhappy, he played for the First XV, was head of the school's debating society and won prizes for his art. [ [http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/robbie_coltrane_biog.html Robbie Coltrane biography ] ] From Glenalmond, Coltrane went on to Glasgow School of Art, where he was ridiculed for "having an accent like Prince Charles [ [http://quotes.maxabout.com/authors/r/robbie_coltrane.aspx Robbie Coltrane Quotes, Best of Robbie Coltrane Quotes Collection at MaxAbout.com ] ] (which he quickly disposed of, though not before gaining the nickname "Lord Fauntleroy") and then the Moray House College Of Education in Edinburgh. Coltrane later called for public schools to be banned and used to be known as "Red Robbie", [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2003/03/20/bacol20.xml 'Hagrid? I'm just Dad' - Telegraph ] ] 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) [ [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=641752004 Scotland on Sunday ] ] and working in theatre and stand-up comedy. Appearing in the 1981 BBC television comedy series "A Kick Up the Eighties", his comic skills also brought him roles in the "The Comic Strip Presents" (1982) series and the comedy sketch shows "Alfresco" (1983-1984) and "Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee" (1984).

Coltrane soon moved into films, obtaining roles in a number of movies such as "Flash Gordon" (1980), "Death Watch" (1980), "Scrubbers" (1983), "Krull" (1983), "Absolute Beginners" (1986), "Mona Lisa" (1986) and appeared as "Annabelle" in "The Fruit Machine" (1988). On television, he also 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 went from strength to strength in the 1990s with the TV series "Cracker" (1993-1996, 2006 one-off special) and a BAFTA award as the stepping stone to parts in bigger films such as the James Bond films "GoldenEye" (1995) and "The World Is Not Enough" (1999) and a major 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, has stated that she created the character of Hagrid based on Coltrane's likeness.

Coltrane has also presented a number of popular 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 kilometres) which he completed in 32 days. In 1997 Coltrane appeared in a series of six programs under the title "Coltrane's Planes and Automobiles" in which he extolled the virtues of a number of engineering achievements, namely the Steam Engine, the Diesel Engine, the Supercharger, the V8 Engine, the Two Stroke engine, and the Jet Engine. In these programs he showed he was not afraid to get his hands dirty, getting involved with dismantling and rebuilding several engines. He also single-handledly removed the engine from a Trabant car in 23 minutes.

In August 2007, Coltrane presented a series for ITV called "B-Road Britain" in which he travelled from London to Glasgow, stopping in at quirky towns and villages along the way.

Coltrane was voted No. 10 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.

Personal life

Coltrane lives in Stirlingshire. He is currently separated from his wife, and is the father of two children, Spencer and Alice.Fact|date=February 2007 He collects vintage cars.

Filmography

*"Ghostdance" (1983) .... George
*"Krull" (1983) .... Rhun
*"National Lampoon's European Vacation" (1985) .... Man in bathroom
*"Caravaggio" (1986) .... Scipio
*"Blackadder the Third", BBC (1987) ... Samuel Johnson
*"Tutti Frutti", BBC (1987) written by John Byrne ... Danny McGlone
*"Eat the Rich" (1987) .... Jeremy
*"Blackadder's Christmas Carol" (1988) .... The Spirit of Christmas
*"The Fruit Machine" (1988), .... Annabelle
*"Henry V" (1989) .... Falstaff
*"Bert Rigby, You're a Fool" (1989) ... Sid Temple
*"Let It Ride" (1989) .... Ticket Seller
*"Midnight Breaks" (1990) .... Fat
*"Danny Champion of the World" (1990) .... Victor Hazell
*"Nuns on the Run" (1990) .... Charlie McManus/Sister Inviolata
*"Perfectly Normal" (1990) .... Alonzo Turner
*"The Pope Must Die" (1991) .... The Pope
*"Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole" (1991) .... Steffano Baccardi
*"Oh, What a Night" (1992) .... Todd
*"Cracker" (1993-2007) (TV) - Dr. Eddie 'Fitz' Fitzgerald
*"Boswell & Johnson's Tour of the Western Isles" (1993) .... Dr. Samuel Johnson
*"The Adventures of Huck Finn" (1993) .... Duke
*"GoldenEye" (1995) .... Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky
*"Buddy" (1997) .... Dr. Bill Lintz
*"The Ebb-Tide" (1998) (TV) .... Capt. Chisholm
*"Frogs for Snakes" (1998) .... Al
*"Montana" (1998) .... The Boss
*"The World Is Not Enough" (1999) .... Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky
*"Alice in Wonderland" (1999) (TV) .... Ned Tweedledum
*"Message in a Bottle" (1999) .... Charlie Toschi
*"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (Sorcerer's Stone in US) (2001) .... Rubeus Hagrid
*"On the Nose" (2001) .... Delaney
*"From Hell" (2001) .... Sergeant Peter Godley
*"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (2002) .... Rubeus Hagrid
*"The Planman" (2003) (TV) .... Jack Lennox QC
*"Comic Relief" 2003: The Big Hair Do (2003) (TV) .... Hagrid
*"Ocean's Twelve (2004) .... Matsui
*"Pride (2004) (TV) (voice) .... James
*"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (2004) - Rubeus Hagrid
*"" (2004) ....voice of Mr. Hyde
*"Van Helsing" (2004) .... voice of Mr. Hyde
*"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (2005) .... Rubeus Hagrid
*"Stormbreaker" (2006) " .... Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
*"" (2006) (TV) .... Dr. Eddie 'Fitz' Fitzgerald
*"Provoked" (2006) .... Lord Edward Foster
*"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (2007) .... Rubeus Hagrid
*"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (2009) .... Rubeus Hagrid
*"The Tale of Despereaux" (2008) .... Gregory (voice)
*"The Brothers Bloom" (2008) .... The Curator

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0001059|name=Robbie Coltrane
*
* [http://www.ftppro.com/Robbie_Coltrane.htm/ Interview with Robbie Coltrane at FTPPro.com]

Persondata
NAME= Coltrane, Robbie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= McMillan, Anthony Robert
SHORT DESCRIPTION=
DATE OF BIRTH= March 30, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH= Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=