10 Actors Fired From Harry Potter

Ralph Fiennes may have gone on to immortalise himself as the physical embodiment of purest evil and wiggled his way into just about every child's nightmares upon slithering onto the scene from The Goblet of Fire onwards, but that still couldn't erase the memory of the Tom Riddle who came before him many moons ago.

Making his presence known on the back of Professor Quirrell's skull in the closing stages of The Philosopher's Stone, Richard Bremnar initially whispered this Dark Lord into existence during a memorable exchange with a young Daniel Radcliffe in 2001. It's refreshing to hear that Bremnar didn't actually harbour any ill-feeling towards the producers or his mate Fiennes for his unceremonious departure from the series, however, telling This is the North East:

"I've been in the business a long time and it didn't surprise me they just went for a bigger name, being Hollywood led, and I'm happy to pass it on to Ralph."

Sure, Bremnar did a mighty fine job giving us our first real glimpse of He Who Must Not Be Named. But it's hard to argue with the choice to give Fiennes his shot at crafting the eventual icon and the chilling results that dramatically came our way.