Whether these actors left fans behind during the franchise or after it had concluded, these losses still left Harry Potter fans devastated. From Potions masters to Ministry officials to magical creatures, here's a list of Harry Potter cast members you may not know passed away.
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00:00Whether these actors left fans behind during the franchise or after it had concluded, these
00:05losses still left Harry Potter fans devastated.
00:09From potion masters to ministry officials to magical creatures, here's a list of Harry
00:13Potter cast members you may not know passed away.
00:17As soon as Harry Potter arrives at his new home at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and
00:21Wizardry, he meets his professors, immediately clashing with the school's potions master,
00:26Severus Snape.
00:27Throughout the series, Snape unfairly antagonizes Harry and his friends, deducting points over
00:32small mistakes and squabbles and favoring students from Slytherin House.
00:37Mr. Potter, our new celebrity."
00:44The pair's animosity only gets worse when Snape is forced to try to teach Harry the
00:49art of acclumency, which could help Harry block his mind against Voldemort.
00:53However, as it turns out, Snape was helping Harry all along.
01:04As a childhood friend of Harry's mother, Lily, Snape was always in love with her, and he
01:08pretended to serve Voldemort while reporting to Dumbledore, risking his life as a double
01:13agent.
01:14Alan Rickman was the perfect choice to play the enigmatic Snape, who turns out to be one
01:18of the series' most complex characters.
01:20Rickman brought this character to life, becoming a beloved figure to millions of Potter fans.
01:25In 2016, Rickman lost his life to pancreatic cancer, and fans, fellow actors, and co-stars
01:30alike paid their tributes to Rickman.
01:34The role of Albus Dumbledore, Harry's wizened, caring mentor throughout the series, required
01:39an actor with enough gravitas and heart to bring this part to life.
01:43And for the first two Harry Potter films, Richard Harris played the character to absolute
01:47perfection.
01:48A sentimental giant whose kindness is never diminished by his incredible power, Dumbledore
01:52serves as Harry's makeshift father figure and personal teacher, sharing his boundless
01:57wisdom with Harry as he gets older.
02:00However, when Dumbledore dies at the end of the sixth installment, Harry Potter and the
02:04Half-Blood Prince, Harry must go it alone, armed only with the lessons Dumbledore taught
02:08him along the way, as he sets out to defeat Voldemort.
02:12Dumbledore doesn't lose his life until the sixth film, but unfortunately, audiences lost
02:17the first Dumbledore after only the second installment.
02:20After making two Potter films, Harris was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease in 2002,
02:25and after he was hospitalized with pneumonia, he died in a London hospital.
02:29Michael Gambon moved forward with the role of Dumbledore, but Harris' legacy lives on
02:34through his sons, one of whom is the acclaimed actor Jared Harris, who has appeared in shows
02:38like Mad Men and Chernobyl.
02:41Harry Potter faces plenty of hardships throughout his life, and in his pre-Hogwarts years, most
02:46of that turmoil is caused by the Dursleys, a trio of extended family members with whom
02:51Harry spends an incredibly unhappy childhood.
02:54After his parents are killed by Voldemort, Harry must live with his mother's sister,
02:58Petunia, her awful husband, Vernon, and their dreadful son, Dudley, all of whom hate Harry
03:03for his magical ability and make his life as miserable as possible.
03:07Despite the fact that Harry and the Dursleys hate each other equally, Harry must return
03:11to their house every summer when Hogwarts is on break, making them important characters
03:16in the story.
03:17"...Any funny business, any at all, and you won't have any meals for a week."
03:24As such, when it came time to cast the Dursleys, producers saw fit to cast Fiona Shaw and Richard
03:29Griffiths, two titans of the British stage and screen, as Petunia and Vernon respectively.
03:35In addition to working on the Potter films, Griffiths teamed up with Daniel Radcliffe
03:39to appear on stage in Equus from 2007 to 2009 on both London's West End and Broadway.
03:45But unfortunately, their working relationship was cut too short far too soon.
03:50Griffiths lost his life to complications from heart surgery in 2013.
03:54After losing his friend and co-star, Radcliffe led a touching tribute to the legendary actor,
03:59saying he was, quote, "...proud to say he knew him."
04:03Plenty of legendary actors appeared in the Harry Potter films series, and few were more
04:07well-renowned than John Hurt.
04:08As Harry goes shopping in Diagon Alley, he meets the mysterious, enigmatic Ollivander,
04:13the man who provides wands to the entire magical community and tells him an important secret
04:18about his own wand.
04:20"...I wondered when I'd be seeing you, Mr. Potter."
04:24Thanks to a magical bond between Harry and Voldemort, the wand that has chosen the young
04:28wizard shares a core with Voldemort's, creating a lifelong connection.
04:32Later, Ollivander must help Harry uncover the secrets of the Elder Wand in order to
04:36stop Voldemort once and for all.
04:38Hurt played Ollivander in a handful of Potter films, including the first and last, but you
04:43might also recognize this stalwart actor from V for Vendetta and Indiana Jones and the King
04:48of the Crystal Skull, as well as a short stint as a war doctor on Doctor Who, and more.
04:53Hurt became a Knight of the Order of the British Empire in 2015 for services to drama, but
04:58sadly, he passed away only a few years later in 2017 from complications from pancreatic
05:04cancer.
05:06After Harry is officially introduced to the magical world by Rubeus Hagrid, his first
05:10official entry into wizardry is when Hagrid takes him to Diagon Alley, the magical street
05:15where witches and wizards can buy all of the supplies they need for spells, potion-making,
05:20and more.
05:21In an otherwise nondescript muggle street in London, Harry discovers the Leaky Cauldron,
05:25a pub that seems to go totally unnoticed by any non-magical folk.
05:29And in the backyard, wizards can gain entry into Diagon Alley by tapping a specific combination
05:34of bricks on the wall.
05:36As the bartender of the Leaky Cauldron, Tom is an important background character.
05:40"...Bless my soul, it's Harry Potter!"
05:43Tom only appeared briefly in the film series, but in the first film, he was played by British
05:48actor Derek Dedman.
05:49Throughout his career, Dedman appeared in a variety of high-profile projects, including
05:54A Streetcar Named Desiree in 1991.
05:57Dedman passed away in 2014 at the age of 74 from complications from diabetes, leaving
06:02the Leaky Cauldron permanently unmanned.
06:05Of course, the world of Harry Potter isn't all heroes.
06:08Voldemort has plenty of bad guys under his slum, one of whom is the dangerous werewolf
06:12Fenrir Greyback.
06:13A ruthless and hungry monster, Greyback bites for fun to create a new army of werewolves.
06:19During Half-Blood Prince, Greyback attacks the eldest Weasley son, Bill, dealing a devastating
06:24blow to Harry and his loved ones, but is ultimately taken down by the good guys.
06:28Greyback required a particularly imposing actor, and David Legeno was up for the task.
06:33A trained mixed martial artist proficient in everything from Muay Thai to judo to boxing
06:38to Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Legeno passed away in 2014 during a hike in Death Valley, reportedly
06:44from problems caused by the extreme heat.
06:47In the franchise's fourth installment, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry finds
06:51himself faced with an entirely new challenge, after his name is somehow placed in the champion-choosing
06:56Goblet of Fire for a multi-school Triwizard tournament, Harry must compete, much to everyone's
07:01chagrin.
07:02Throughout the tournament, he encounters Barty Crouch Sr., a strict, high-ranking ministry
07:06director overseeing the operations of the tournament.
07:09However, what Harry learns later about Crouch is that he has a tragic past.
07:13His son, Barty Crouch Jr., played by David Tennant, was previously arrested with a group
07:18of Death Eaters, and he has returned with Voldemort's help to exact revenge upon his
07:23father.
07:24Because Barty Crouch Sr. is such an established member of the ministry, it stands to reason
07:28that a venerated actor like Roger Lloyd Pack would be the one to play him.
07:32Pack worked extensively on British television before he passed away from pancreatic cancer
07:36in 2014.
07:38When it comes to magical creatures in the Harry Potter universe, few are more mysterious
07:42than house elves, which are genetically engineered to do a wizard's bidding once a bond exists
07:47between the two.
07:48However, Harry ends up with much more than he bargained for when he ends up owning Kreacher,
07:52a surly house elf who once belonged to his late godfather, Sirius Black.
07:57After Sirius' death, Harry inherited ownership of Kreacher, but it took Kreacher time to
08:01warm to him.
08:02Visually, Kreacher was an entirely computer-generated character, but he was voiced by Timothy Bateson,
08:07an established British voice actor.
08:09Voicing Kreacher in the fifth movie, Order of the Phoenix, was Bateson's last role before
08:13he passed away in 2009.
08:15For the rest of the series, Kreacher was voiced by Simon McBurney.
08:20Once Harry enters Diagon Alley for the first time, one of his first stops is Gringotts,
08:24the vast wizarding bank that holds some of the magical world's most closely held treasures
08:29and secrets.
08:30Just to add to its mystique, Gringotts is guarded by goblins, which are easily the most
08:34secretive and cryptic magical creatures in Harry's world.
08:37And one of the first goblins Harry meets is Griphook, who leads him down into Gringotts'
08:41dark and well-guarded vaults.
08:43Though Griphook returns in later films, he's played by a different actor as the series
08:47continues.
08:48In the sixth movie, Verne Troyer portrays the prominent goblin.
08:52"...and does Mr. Harry Potter have his key?"
08:57Troyer has a fairly extensive film and television resume, but most people likely know him best
09:01as Mini-Me to Mike Myers' Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers franchise.
09:05Tragically, Troyer passed away in 2018.
09:08His death was later ruled a suicide.
09:10However, his performances in everything from Harry Potter to Austin Powers will live on
09:14forever.
09:16When Harry arrives at Hogwarts, the magic within the school astounds him.
09:19Food appears on tables as if by magic.
09:21He can wave a wand and make anything happen.
09:24The staircase is changed frequently, and in an unnerving twist, the paintings on the wall
09:28move and talk.
09:29One of those paintings, The Fat Lady, is in charge of guarding the entrance to Gryffindor
09:34Tower, and in the films, she was played by British actress Elizabeth Spriggs.
09:38A Shakespearean actress, Spriggs only made an appearance in the first film before her
09:42untimely death in 2008.
09:44Dawn French replaced Spriggs as the Fat Lady, popping up in 2004's Harry Potter and the
09:49Prisoner of Azkaban.
09:51One of the most important and powerful witches in the Harry Potter universe, Minerva McGonagall,
09:56played by Dame Maggie Smith, comes off as quite stern, particularly to her students
10:00in her difficult Transfiguration class at Hogwarts.
10:03Sure, she's got a tough exterior, but she cares deeply for her students, particularly
10:07those in Gryffindor House, which she leads at the school.
10:10As Dumbledore's right-hand woman and the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts, McGonagall
10:14is a constant presence in the Harry Potter franchise.
10:17While unassuming at first, she finally gets to show off her full might in The Deathly
10:21Hollows Part II during the Battle of Hogwarts.
10:24Man, the Boundaries protect us!
10:26Do your duty to our school!"
10:29On September 27th, 2024, Smith's family confirmed to multiple outlets that the venerated actress
10:36passed away at a London hospital at the age of 89.
10:39Beyond Harry Potter, Smith was known for playing the acid-tongued Violet Crawley in
10:43the Downton Abbey franchise, as well as her many years on the stage in England.
10:47Smith's passing was an enormous blow to the British entertainment industry, and to fans
10:52around the world.
10:54Robert Hardy played Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge in four of the eight Harry Potter films.
10:58Fudge first appeared in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, but truly developed as
11:02a character in The Prisoner of Azkaban.
11:04He seems like a good man at first, but by allowing the execution of Hagrid's hippogriff
11:09Buckbeak, he evolves from a seemingly benevolent leader into a power-hungry antagonist.
11:14Hardy died on August 3rd, 2017, at age 91.
11:17His Harry Potter co-star Chris Rankin, who portrayed Fudge's assistant Percy Weasley,
11:22paid tribute to the actor on Twitter, by writing,
11:24BBC News tells me Robert Hardy, the Minister of Magic, has died.
11:28Terribly sad.
11:29He was a very kind man who told wonderful stories.
11:32The classically trained British actor had a career spanning over 70 years and was known
11:36for a variety of stage, film, and television roles.
11:40He also held a special distinction as being the only actor to have portrayed Winston Churchill
11:44on screen in nine different productions.
11:48Following the death of Richard Harris, Irish actor Sir Michael Gambon was cast as a replacement
11:52for the role of Albus Dumbledore.
11:54Since Harris acted as Dumbledore only for the first two films, Gambon reprised the role
11:58of the iconic Hogwarts headmaster from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban onward.
12:03When once told today of his casting process,
12:05"...they rang me up and said, will you do it?
12:08Like any other job.
12:09I said, sure.
12:10Then you find yourself in the middle of this thing."
12:12Even though Harry Potter was already a smash when The Prisoner of Azkaban began production,
12:16it took Gambon a while to fully grasp the gravity of his casting.
12:20He shared that it finally hit him after he encountered a group of kids who wanted his
12:23autograph.
12:24As he told Insider,
12:25"...I got out of the limo in Leicester Square.
12:27There were 4,000 children screaming, and then suddenly you become aware of how big this
12:32thing is.
12:33And Dumbledore was an impressive addition to Gambon's already prolific career on screen
12:37and on the stage.
12:38"...Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy."
12:43Sadly, on September 27th, 2023, Gambon died at the age of 82 after a bout of pneumonia.
12:49His family said in a statement,
12:51"...we are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael Gambon.
12:54Beloved husband and father, Michael died peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus
12:59at his bedside."
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