'Harry Potter' Stars Pay Sweet Tribute To 'Big Friendly Giant' Robbie Coltrane

Stars of the “Harry Potter” movies have paid tribute to Robbie Coltrane — who played the character Hagrid in the hit films — following news Friday of his death at age 72.

Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Tom Felton, Matthew Lewis and other actors who were just children when they filmed with Coltrane remembered him as a fun presence and caring influence during their formative years.

Coltrane was “one of the funniest people I’ve met and used to keep us laughing constantly as kids on the set,” Radcliffe, who played the films’ titular boy wizard, said in a statement to the PA Media news agency.

“I’ve especially fond memories of him keeping our spirits up on [the 2004 film] Prisoner Of Azkaban, when we were all hiding from the torrential rain for hours in Hagrid’s hut and he was telling stories and cracking jokes to keep morale up,” Radcliffe added.

“I feel incredibly lucky that I got to meet and work with him and very sad that he’s passed. He was an incredible actor and a lovely man.”

Watson, who played Hermione Granger, described Coltrane on Instagram as “like the most fun uncle I’ve ever had but most of all he was deeply caring, and compassionate towards me as a child and an adult.”

“His talent was so immense it made sense he played a giant ― he could fill ANY space with his brilliance,” she wrote. “Robbie, if I ever get to be so kind as you were to me on a film set I promise I’ll do it in your name and memory.”

Felton, who played Draco Malfoy, recalled Coltrane looking after and caring for everyone on set during one particular shoot.

“He was a big friendly giant on screen but even more so In real life. Love you mate - thank you for everything xx,” he wrote on Twitter.

Lewis, who played Neville Longbottom, spoke about Coltrane’s nickname for him: “Space Boy.”

“We shared a love of the final frontier,” he tweeted. “He didn’t give a fuck and it always made you smile. A giant, in more ways than one. We had some times x.”

Warwick Davis, who played professor Filius Flitwick, said Coltrane always brought “warmth, light and laughter to any set he walked on to.”

James and Oliver Phelps, who played Fred and George Weasley, recalled Coltrane’s encouragement on set and at one of the films’ premieres.

“Harry Potter” novelist J.K. Rowling, meanwhile, praised Coltrane as an “incredible talent, a complete one off, and I was beyond fortunate to know him, work with him and laugh my head off with him.”