'Chernobyl' and 'Harry Potter' actor Paul Ritter dies at 54
LONDON, England (AP) — Paul Ritter, a flexible British actor who played everything from a hapless suburban patriarch in sitcom "Friday Night Dinner" to a Soviet engineer who helps trigger a nuclear catastrophe in "Chernobyl," died Tuesday, per his agent. He was 54 years old and had been diagnosed with a tumor.
Ritter played Martin Goodman, the eccentric father of a London Jewish family, within the acerbic yet warm Channel 4 sitcom "Friday Night Dinner," a well-recognized face to British television audiences and theatergoers.
He also starred because the doomed nuclear engineer Anatoly Dyatlov within the Emmy-winning HBO drama "Chernobyl," the sorcerer Eldred Worple in "Harry Potter and therefore the Half-Blood Prince," and a shady government strategist within the character film "Quantum of Solace."
Those who worked with Ritter in a number of his most well-known roles praised him. "Friday Night Dinner" producer Robert Popper said Ritter "was a stunning, wonderful person." Kind, funny, and therefore the most loving actor I've ever worked with.”
Craig Mazin, the screenwriter for "Chernobyl," said Ritter was "one of the foremost gentle, generous, and brilliant people I've ever met, much less collaborated with" on Twitter. He was taken from us way an excessive amount of today. I send my condolences to his family and loved ones as they mourn the loss of this glorious man.”
Ritter was a compelling stage actor who appeared in a very number of productions at the National Theatre of Great Britain, including "All My Sons," "Coram Boy," and "The Curious Incident Of The Dog within the Night-Time." He also played Prime Minister John Roy Major opposite Helen Mirren's Queen Elizabeth within the royal drama "The Audience."
In 2009, he was nominated for a Tony Award for his role on Broadway in Alan Ayckbourn's farce "The Norman Conquests."
Ritter was described as "one of the nicest and finest actors you'll ever know" by actor Russell Tovey.
Ritter "knocked it out of the PARK in Chernobyl. Watching it I consciously thought, 'Wow, we've got a brand new principal.' Between that & how funny he was in Friday Night Dinner... such unreal talent," actor-comedian Rob Delaney tweeted.
Ritter died “peacefully reception together with his wife Polly and sons Frank and Noah by his side,” in line with Markham, Froggatt & Irwin.
“Paul was an awfully talented actor who excelled during a wide selection of roles on stage and screen,” the agency added. “He was fiercely intellectual, kind, and extremely funny, and that we will miss him greatly.”
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