Complications after heart surgery

Withnail and I star Richard Griffiths has died at the age of 65 after complications following heart surgery.

The familiar character actor – who played the predatory Uncle Monty in the 1987 cult comedy – was known for a number of other high-profile roles, including Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films and Hector in the History Boys both on stage and screen.

His comedy roles includes appearances in Whoops Apocalypse, The Vicar Of Dibley, the Lee Evans movie Funny Bones and playing the Vogon Jeltz in the film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He appeared in the first episode of Episodes, playing a actor in a British sitcom who was replaced by Matt LeBlanc when the show went to Hollywood.

Sir Nicholas Hytner, director of the National Theatre, paid tribute, saying: ‘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.;

Griffiths died at the University Hospital Coventry yesterday.

Published: 29 Mar 2013