Harry Potter: 12 Best Supporting Characters

11. Vernon Dursley

Dobby House Elf
Warner Bros.

If Arthur represents the pinnacle of consistent fatherly influence on Harry's life, then his particularly vindictive uncle is undoubtedly the pit.

A middle-management social-climber with very little in the way of redeeming features, he's drawn from the Roald Dahl world of buffonish villainy more than just about any other character in the series, including his wife Petunia or son Dudley - and it's that heavy-handed caricatured approach that ranks him as one of the more memorable side players in the series' wide ensemble.

As personified by Richard Griffiths - who would go on to have a particularly warm relationship with Daniel Radcliffe offscreen - he's every inch the blustering bigmouth with a gleefully nasty streak, rendered with joyful hamminess. Vernon Dursley may get less than a quarter-hour onscreen across eight films but he sticks in the memory as the franchise's most effective pantomime creation.

Contributor

Something of a culture vulture, Mr Steel can historically be found in three places; the local cinema, the local stadium or the local chip shop. He is an avowed fan of franchise films, amateur cricket and power-chords.