LONDON (AP) — Versatile British actor Paul Ritter, whose roles ranged from a hapless suburban patriarch in sitcom “Friday Night Dinner” to a Soviet engineer who helps cause a nuclear disaster in “Chernobyl,” has died at 54. Ritter's agent said the actor died at home on Monday evening and had been suffering from a brain tumor. Ritter was a familiar face to British television viewers, famous as eccentric patriarch Martin Goodman in the Channel 4 sitcom “Friday Night Dinner.” He also played ill-fated nuclear engineer Anatoly Dyatlov in the HBO drama “Chernobyl” and the wizard Eldred Worple in “Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince.” Ritter also appeared as a devious political operative in the James Bond film “Quantum of Solace” and had frequent stage roles.
Zak Hussein/AP
FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2009 file photo, British actor Paul Ritter. Ritter, who appeared in the “Harry Potter” franchise and played a key figure behind nuclear disaster in “Chernobyl,” has died aged 54. Ritter agent said the actor died at home on the evening of Monday, April 5, 2021 and had been suffering from a brain tumour. Ritter was a familiar face to British television viewers and theatregoers, famous as eccentric patriarch Martin Goodman in the Chanel 4 sitcom “Friday Night Dinner.” He also played ill-fated nuclear engineer Anatoly Dyatlov in the HBO drama “Chernobyl” and the wizard Eldred Worple in “Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince,” and appeared as a devious political operative in the James Bond film “Quantum of Solace.” (Zak Hussein/PA via AP, FIle)
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