British actor Richard Griffiths who is best known for his roles in Harry Potter and the cult film Withnail & I, has died aged 65, his agent said on Friday.

According to his agent Simon Beresford, the portly star of stage and screen, one of Britain’s best loved character actors, died on Thursday from complications following heart surgery.

Undoubtedly, Griffiths will be forever remembered by fans of cult classic Withnail & I as the amorous Uncle Monty, although he reached his biggest audience as Uncle Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films.

Daniel Radcliffe speaks out...

Moreover, Daniel Radcliffe, who played the boy wizard in the blockbuster Potter series, led the tributes to Griffiths who he said had offered him encouragement, tutelage and humour while Radcliffe said in a statement that Richard was by his side during two of the most important moments of his career.

The actor recalled the first which was in August 2000, when Radcliffe was filming his first ever shot as Harry while he was nervous and he made him feel relaxed.

Radcliffe added that seven years later, they embarked on Equus together while it was his first time doing a play but, terrified as he was, his encouragement, tutelage and humour made it a joy. In fact, any room he walked into was made twice as funny and twice as clever just by his presence. He feels proud to say he knew him.

A remarkable man and one of the greatest and best-loved actors...

Beresford said the late star “brightened my days and enriched the life of anyone he came into contact with” while he said in a statement that Richard gave acting a good name. He
was a remarkable man and one of the greatest and best-loved actors. He will be greatly missed.

According to Nicholas Hytner, who directed Griffiths in one of his biggest hits in Britain, The History Boys, said he was “the life of every party”.

Griffiths won several awards for his theatre role as an inspirational teacher in The History Boys in London and New York, and later won a Bafta nomination for his role in the film version.

“His performance in The History Boys was quite overwhelming: a masterpiece of wit, delicacy, mischief and desolation, often simultaneously,” said Hytner, the director of the National Theatre in London. But that was just one small part of a career that spanned Shakespeare, cutting-edge new plays and major work in film and television.

As a concluding fact, the actor, from Yorkshire in northern England, was awarded an OBE for services to drama in 2007.

May God bless his soul!

(AW:Samrat Biswas)