David Ryall, who has died aged 79, was one of the most distinguished character actors at the National Theatre over many years, playing important roles for successive artistic directors, Laurence Olivier and Peter Hall, in the 1970s and 80s, and appearing in the premieres of plays by Tom Stoppard, Michael Frayn, Peter Shaffer, Adrian Mitchell, Peter Nichols and Simon Gray.
And as do many character actors today, he wore the Harry Potter label, appearing in the seventh of the eight films, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One (2010), as Dumbledore’s friend Elphias Doge, who greets Harry at the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour before he “disapparates” in the mayhem caused by the Death Eaters. But even in this cameo, you can see the twinkling charm of the actor, and gauge the lightness and musicality of his voice, which emanated from a benign, rubbery visage that could all the same cloud and harden with darker emotions.
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