Richard Griffiths, uncle to Withnail and Harry Potter, dies aged 65

Richard Griffiths, the award-winning actor famous for his roles in Withnail & I and Harry Potter, has died following complications after heart surgery. The celebrated stage and screen star, one of Britain's best-known character actors, was 65.

Tributes poured in for the actor, who died on Thursday at the University Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire. Daniel Radcliffe, who starred alongside Griffiths in the Harry Potter films, said the actor made any room "twice as funny".

Radcliffe said Griffiths had supported him at two key points in his career, when he first played the young Harry Potter and later when he made his stage debut in Equus.

Griffiths, the son of a steelworker, was born in Thornaby-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, in 1947 were he cared for his deaf parents. He left school at 15 but later studied drama, before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company. He married Heather Gibson in 1980 after they met during a production of Lady Windermere's Fan in 1973.

His portly stature, which made him instantly recognisable on screen, was thought to have been caused by medication he was given as a youngster. He was awarded an OBE for services to drama in 2007.