Quicksand Fans

RIP Hagrid.

This bums me out. The first time I saw him was in Nuns on the Run. It seems dated now, but it's a good flick. And once you see Mr. Coltrane in it, you'll always recognize him.

I was also very impressed with Cracker. I only saw a couple episodes, but was so impressed that I tried to find it on DVD a few years ago, but didn't have much luck. Maybe now it will receive some much needed re-release attention.

Ah well. He was one of those guys you really felt like you knew, even while he was putting on some great performances.

Ok, sometimes it's worth another try.

The Harry Potter movies had a wonderful and underrated cast of supporting actors playing various characters: Maggie Smith as Prof. McGonagall, Alan Rickman as Snape, Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix LeStrange ... However, I think no one brought the book character to life as much as Robbie Coltrane did with Hagrid in all eight movies. I did not know a whole lot about him as an actor and a person, though. It seems like he was quite a guy. Another in a line of sad but inevitable losses. RIP.

Who remembers "Fitz"(Coltrane)'s self justifying rant in "Cracker" when, during a court-mandated session with Gamblers Anonymous, he gave a spirited defence of gambling ,denouncing anti-gamblers as hypocritical neo- Puritans trying to make a virtue out of their own cowardice, being too scared to take a chance, take a risk, put their fate in the hands of the gods. Finishing with "WE'RE not the ones with a problem. THEY are!" and the meeting breaks up as the group forms several "three card monte" schools.

A lady friend of mine was living in a tower block in London during the 80s. One day she had a knock at the door. Opening, she saw Robbie Coltrane standing there with a sack on his back; she said, "Aren't you that Robbie Coltrane off the telly?"
"That's not the line," he replied, then he looked to one side, my friend followed his gaze and saw, down the other end of the landing, a full television crew; lights, cameras, mikes, everything.
"IT'S THE WRONG FUCKING FLAT!" exclaimed Coltrane.
They were making an episode of a sitcom, called "Snakes And Ladders", about life in Thatcher's Britain, and had gone to the wrong floor.