British actor Robert Hardy, best known for his role in four of the “Harry Potter” movies and for the TV show “All Creatures Great and Small,” died Thursday at age 91.
Hardy’s acting career spanned almost seven decades since he joined the Shakespeare Memorial Company in Stratford at age 24. Hardy played Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, in “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” “Prisoner of Azkaban,” “Goblet of Fire,” and “Order of the Phoenix.”
He also played Winston Churchill in several different movies and TV shows, and had the role of Siegfried Farnon on “All Creatures Great and Small,” a BBC television show that ran from 1978 to 1990.
Hardy's family remembered him as “gruff, elegant, twinkly, and always dignified,” adding that “he is celebrated by all who knew him and loved him, and everyone who enjoyed his work,” the BBC reported.
Children Emma, Justine, and Paul said of their father: “Dad is also remembered as a meticulous linguist, a fine artist, a lover of music and a champion of literature, as well as a highly respected historian, and a leading specialist on the longbow,” the BBC reported.
Friends and fans remembered Hardy on Twitter.