Robbie Coltrane

Two of my grandsons spent the night so we watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), the second installment in the Harry Potter franchise.  It had started on TV, so I threw in the DVD to start it at the beginning, and for some surround sound.

My guess for the most popular character in the series, other than the three leads, is Rubeus Hagrid, played in all of the Potter flix by Robbie Coltrane (b. 1950).  He has an easy going nature and he trusts his charges to be honest.  He also has a passing resemblance (except for the antithesis of hair) to Curly Howard (1903 - 1952) of the Three Stooges. Both are heavy and have a lovable, comedic personality.

I don't know if I can qualify Coltrane as a Bit Actor, but until Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) he was relatively unknown in the USA, unless you were really paying attention.  He has 98 roles listed on IMDb.

In his early film days, Coltrane was in Flash Gordon (1980) starring people like Max von Sydow (b. 1929), Topol (b. 1935) and Timothy Dalton (b. 1944).

He had a small part as a man in the bathroom in European Vacation (1985) starring Chevy Chase (b. 1943) and was in Revolution the same year with Al Pacino (b. 1940) and Donald Sutherland (b. 1935).  He is getting small part work in good movies, and good parts in lesser movies.

In 1986 he was in Mona Lisa where he had a bigger part opposite Bob Hoskins (b. 1942) and Michael Caine (b. 1933).  He has an interesting mix of roles, plus a lot of British TV, probably because he lives in England.

The part that brought him to the attention of the mainstream audience was as a former KGB agent in GoldenEye (1995), a part he reprises in 1999 for The World is not Enough.  ANY James Bond film will do wonders for your acting career.  He was noticed by none other than J.K. Rowling (b. 1965) herself, and at her suggestion Coltrane was cast to play Hagrid.

Of course making eight Harry Potter films in the same number of years would take a majority of your time.  But Robbie Coltrane continued to work in other projects.  We see him in Oceans Twelve (2004), The Brothers Bloom (2008) and he does a voice part in Tales of Despereaux, also in 2008.

He has had a hard life, worked out his problems, and made it into a complete success.  It would be interesting to see how much he made, just for his part as Hagrid.  I like him. He's the kind of actor I'd like to invite to dinner.

When is a Bit Player Not a Bit Player?

When he or she is a child star, of course.  I finally got through Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince last night on-demand.  From 2009, it is the sixth entry in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rawling, with two more movies coming this year and next.  I think I'll wait and buy the box set of all eight movies in HD.

The title character and several other children have been thrust into stardom because of the popularity of this series.  I am not denying them their fame, and I know that I am not expressing concerns about them that have not surfaced before.  The fact is, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, plus a group of supporting players including Bonnie Wright and Tom Felton, can't go out anywhere without being swamped by fans.

Radcliffe was paid 250,000 British pounds for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in 2001, when he was 12 years old.  Just six years later he received $14,000,000 for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and that year he was voted sixth on the Forbes 20 Top-Earning Young Superstars.  I didn't want to look at his salary for the last two movies, yet to come.  (I did.  He and the two other main characters, all under 22 years old, received $50,000,000 EACH for the last two movies.)

Other than just a few small roles in theater, TV and minor movies, none of these young ladies and gentlemen were ever really bit players.  The started acting, enough to know when to audition for a movie, and then...POOF...a title role, or at least, a role that would cause them to become famous. 

I believe this will present problems for them in the future.  They do not possess the depth of experience that comes from playing a variety of parts.  Of all the Our Gang kids, approximately 44, only Jackie Cooper made the grade.  Child actor Jackie Coogan was a star, but his later roles went downhill. 

So, what can they do with their lives now?  My suggestion, since they are all roughly 20 years old, is to get as complete an education as they can, majoring in acting and literature, of course.  Then start taking parts based on what they think will add to their experience, not their bank account.  If they prove their worth, they may make it.

They should also read the biographies of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Brad Renfro, Dana Plato, and others.  Work is what is needed for a satisfying life, not living to excess.  If Radcliffe has been smart with his money, he really does not need to work again...ever!

Even though the stars of Harry Potter are rich and famous, they really should be Bit Players.  (IMHO)