Richard Griffiths

The Man Who Stopped the Theatre

Richard Griffiths would often stop his plays mid-monologue if he heard a cell phone ringing. He didn't mind breaking the fourth wall because, for him, respect for the stage was sacred. He threw several audience members out of theaters in London and New York between 2004 and 2005. That sharp temper actually hid an actor of absolute technical precision.

He was born in 1947 in an industrial area of Yorkshire. His parents were deaf and he learned sign language before he began to speak. However, his childhood was not easy because of a hormone treatment that caused him to be overweight early on. That physique shaped his roles but also gave him an undeniable stage presence that he drew on for decades.

The silence in his home shaped the way he understood sound.

In 1987, he played Uncle Monty in Withnail and I. It is a cult film in which Griffiths delivered a performance that was both overflowing and pathetic in equal measure. That role opened the doors of the British film industry wide for him. But he preferred the security of the Royal Shakespeare Company to the glare of Hollywood spotlights.

The Dursleys' Necessary Hatred

Millions of children knew him in 2001 as Vernon Dursley. It was not a grateful role. He had to embody the meanness and contempt toward the protagonist in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Filming these big-budget productions sometimes bored him because of the long waits on set. Despite that, he fulfilled his contract until 2010 in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.

He earned money from film so he could afford the theater.

His great triumph came with The History Boys. In 2004, he premiered the play in London and later brought it to the big screen in 2006. He won the Tony and the Olivier for his performance as Professor Hector. He was a complex character who mixed wisdom with an obvious moral weakness. It was the peak of his international stage career.

And the gamble paid off.

Despite his reputation as a dramatic actor, he never disowned pure comedy. He took part in Carry On 2 and 1/2 in 1991, playing a comic double role. He also starred in the series Pie in the Sky from 1994 to 1997, playing a police inspector who only wanted to cook in his own restaurant. That series ran for five seasons and made him a familiar face in homes across the United Kingdom.

The Final Curtain in Coventry

In 2011, he took part in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, playing King George II. He kept working at a steady pace, but his health began to decline seriously. His last film appearance was in About Time, released in 2013. He died that same year after complications from heart surgery at Coventry University Hospital.

The final medical report recorded his death from vascular complications following a five-hour surgery on March 28, 2013.