20 Harry Potter Actors Who Are No Longer With Us

16. Richard Griffiths - Vernon Dursley

Playing Uncle Vernon Dursley would have been a poisoned chalice for any actor who took it on. While Voldemort was definitely the villain of the piece, Dursley was a bigot (against magical folk at the very least) and an abusive monster who kept Harry Potter as a glorified slave for his formative years.

With that image in mind, Richard Griffiths' performance is astoundingly effective. He is a cartoonish oaf, believably awful with the perfect balance of a lack of self-awareness and that tangible compulsion to hatred, and rather courageously, Griffiths ignored the temptation to soften the character.

Griffiths came to Harry Potter after a career spanning more than sixty films (including most memorably, roles in The Naked Gun 2 1/2, Withnail & I and Gandhi). He was one of Britain's finest character actors and passed away after complications due to heart surgery on 28th March 2013.