Trivia
- Robbie hosted a TV series called Coltrane's Planes and Automobiles.
- Robbie is best known for his role as the alcoholic, gambling psychologist Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald in the British drama Cracker.
- Robbie believes to have been changed by Marlon Brando's biker in The Wild One.
- Robbie's height: 6' 1"
- Robbie was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2006 New Year's Honours List for his services to drama.
- Robbie majored in drawing, painting and film.
- Robbie and wife Rhona Gemmell are currently separated.
- Robbie has two children, a son and a daughter.
- Throughout the Seventies Robbie worked with the San Quentin Theatre Group, the Bush Theatre, and Edinburgh's renowned Traverse Theatre. And it was with this last group that he formed a working relationship with playwright and director John Byrne, appearing in his The Slab Boys, a trilogy about three unruly Glaswegian kids, and Cuttin' The Rug, about factory workers.
- Robbie is noted as being an avid fan of Jazz.
- In 1973, Robbie's 50-minute documentary, Young Mental Health (a further pointer towards one of his most famous roles) was voted Film Of The Year by the Scottish Education Council.
- Robbie believes himself to have been utterly changed by Marlon Brando's biker in The Wild One, particularly the scene where he's asked "What are you rebelling against?" and he replies "What have you got?"
- Robbie made his stage debut, aged 12, delivering charged rants from Henry V while wrapped in chain mail.
- Robbie attended Glenalmond public school in Perthshire.
- Robbie's father died from lung cancer when Robbie was still in his teens. Worse, in 1976, Robbie's younger sister, Jane, committed suicide while studying at York University.
- Robbie has claimed that his earliest memory is of lying beneath the piano while his mother played.
- Robbie's parents were both Scottish Calvinists.
- In 1994, Robbie won the RTS Television Award for Best Actor - Male for: Cracker (1993).
- In 2003, Robbie was nominated for the PFCS Award for Best Acting Ensemble for: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). It was shared with: Kenneth Branagh, John Cleese, Warwick Davis, Richard Griffiths, Rupert Grint, Richard Harris, Jason Isaacs, Daniel Radcliffe, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Maggie Smith, Julie Walters, and Emma Watson.
- In 1992, Robbie was nominated for the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for: Oh, What a Night (1992).
- In 1991, Robbie won the Peter Sellers Award for Comedy.
- In 1994, Robbie won the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actor for: Cracker (1993).
- In 1988, Robbie was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor for: Tutti Frutti (1987).
- In 1994, Robbie won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor for: Cracker (1993).
- In 1995, Robbie won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor for: Cracker (1993).
- In 1996, Robbie won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor for: Cracker (1993).
- In 2002, Robbie was nominated for the BAFTA Film Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001).
- In 2002, Robbie was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001).
- JK Rowling was very keen specifically on Robbie playing Hagrid.
- Robbie appeared in a TV commercial for Persil in 1991.
- Robbie has appeared in five films opposite a former member of Monty Python's Flying Circus. His cast mate in Nuns on the Run (1990) and European Vacation (1985) was Eric Idle. He appeared in The World Is Not Enough (1999), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), all of which also starred John Cleese.
- Robbie only took the role of Hagrid in the Harry Potter series after his children urged him to do so.
- Robbie's last name is taken from the famous jazz artist John Coltrane.
Quotes
- Robbie Coltrane: Ninety percent of people's nightmares is standing in front of 1,000 people. Did you know that? And having to speak. You would have thought it would have been a madman tying you up and taking your eyes out.
- Robbie Coltrane: It's a very bad time for genuinely creative people to do television or anything now. There isn't a huge audience anymore to get the big budget which you need to make good drama unless you get sponsorship or unless you get teen stars to be in them. That sort of ties in with marketing and Coca-Cola and all that stuff.
- Robbie Coltrane: (About his beard on Harry Potter)It's hell with that big beard and stuff. That's the one bit I don't like. Either you take out at lunch or you don't eat. So I opted not to eat, 'cause having to put it on twice is horrific.
- Robbie Coltrane: (About working in the Harry Potter movies) It's like going back to school. You know, autumn! Time for Harry Potter.
- Robbie Coltrane: (About his children's thougths on seeing in in Harry Potter) My kids love it. I thought I was the coolest dad in the world when I got to be in a Bond film, but Harry Potter, too? Well, I think I qualify for a medal for exceptional parenting or something, don't you?
- Robbie Coltrane: (About the things he buys now that he has more money) I just get the same stuff as I did before, but the price tag is much higher.
- Robbie Coltrane: (on son urging him to accept the role as Hagrid) He made it quite clear that if I didn't play the role, I would be dead within a week. As you can imagine, the guy who turned down Hagrid would be like the guy who called the Beatles a guitar band. So I couldn't possibly refuse, really.
- Robbie Coltrane: Once you've been doing anything for twenty-five years people start to notice you.
- Robbie Coltrane: See, what you're meant to do when you have a mid-life crisis is buy a fast car, aren't you? Well, I've always had fast cars. It's not that. It's the fear that you're past your best. It's the fear that the stuff you've done in the past is your best work.
- Robbie Coltrane: Believe me, my children have more stamina than a power station
- Robbie Coltrane: I had a very bad time with acid. I did that classic thing of looking in the mirror by mistake and seeing the devil. But I took it several times, because you always think that next time you might have the wonderful time that everyone else is having.
- Robbie Coltrane: Is it just me, or is the world full of beautiful women?
- Robbie Coltrane: I love films where the world seems to be going a bit faster and everything's a bit brighter and more in focus.
