TRIBUTES have been paid to North-East born actor, Richard Griffiths, who has died at the age of 65 after complications following heart surgery.

The award-winning performer, who appeared as Uncle Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films, was hailed as one of the greatest and most loved British actors by a string of his co-stars and colleagues.

He died on Thursday at the University Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire after a distinguished career in film, television and on stage.

Griffiths played a food-loving detective in the Pie in the Sky television series and Uncle Monty in Withnail and I.

He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play, and the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play, all for his role in the Alan Bennett play The History Boys.

Daniel Radcliffe, who performed alongside him in the Harry Potter films and in the stage play Equus, led tributes to Griffiths whose "encouragement, tutelage and humour" made work "a joy".

Sir Nicholas Hytner, director of the National Theatre, hailed the veteran actor's stage skills and said his death would devastate his "army of friends".

The director, who worked with Griffiths in The History Boys and The Habit Of Art, said: "Richard Griffiths wasn't only one of the most loved and recognisable British actors - he was also one of the very greatest.

"His performance in The History Boys was quite overwhelming: a masterpiece of wit, delicacy, mischief and desolation, often simultaneously.

"But that was just one small part of a career that spanned Shakespeare, cutting-edge new plays and major work in film and television."

Griffiths was born in Thornaby, Stockton, in 1947, the son of parents who were both deaf, so he learned sign language before he was able to speak.

 

As a child, he tried to run away from home on several occasions, and left school when only 15.

After taking a job as a porter, he was persuaded to try again with his education at Stockton and Billingham College - now Stockton Riverside College -  where a drama class was to have a lasting influence on his future.

He was made a Doctor of Letters by Teesside University in 2006 and received an OBE in 2008.

Phil Hastie, vice principal at Stockton Riverside College, said: "We are very sorry to hear the sad news about Richard Griffiths and our thoughts go out to his friends and family.

“He studied at the college, back in the days when it was known as Billingham Technical College, but he had stayed in touch.

"He was an inspiration to many of our students, and we last saw him when he kindly came to formerly open the college's new theatre when we moved to the Teesdale site.

"He will be sadly missed."

Mark Gatiss, actor, screen writer and novelist from Sedgefield, County Durham, who is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, posted on Twitter: “Desperately sad to hear the news of Richard Griffiths’ passing. A superb, nuanced, naughty actor, and an absolute gentleman."