Richard Griffiths

A figure of grand and troubling girth, Richard Griffiths struck awe and fear into those who saw him onstage in his Olivier- and Tony-winning turn as Hector the English prof in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys or onscreen as two indelible uncles: the raffish Monty in Withnail & I and the tyrannical Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter series. Awe for the Falstaffian humor and humanity he brought to each role. Fear that his great weight might bring him down. So it did. Britain’s most beloved character actor died March 28 in Coventry after heart surgery. He was 65.

Born in Yorkshire to deaf parents, Griffiths made up for lost words by becoming an actor of poetic bluster and an indefatigable raconteur. Blessed with “theatrical zeal in the veins” (Uncle Monty’s phrase), he starred with Daniel Radcliffe in a revival of Equus and with Danny DeVito in The Sunshine Boys. For the BBC he played the pastry-chef detective in Pie in the Sky and, of course, Sir John Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

“Mr. Hector’s stuff’s not meant for the exam, sir,” one of the history boys says. “It’s to make us more rounded human beings.” The rotund, orotund Griffiths gave life lessons with every performance. A pity he couldn’t quite live up to the epitaph he once devised for himself: “Richard Griffiths, Actor. Born 1947. Died 2947.”