Actor Richard Griffiths, who starred in the Harry Potter movies and Withnail and I, has died at the age of 65 after complications following heart surgery, BBC News reported.

Griffiths enjoyed a long career of success on film and on TV, but also on the stage where he was a Tony-winning character actor. He was best known for playing Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films and Uncle Monty in Withnail and I.

TV roles included playing a cookery-loving detective in Pie in the Sky. And on stage, his most acclaimed performance was as the charismatic teacher Hector in Alan Bennett's The History Boys, a role he recreated in the 2006 film version.

He was appointed an OBE in the 2008 New Year Honors.

He was born in Thornaby-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, he first built up a reputation on the stage with a series of comic Shakespearean roles.

His Harry Potter co-star Daniel Radcliffe - who also appeared on stage with him in Equus - was among the first to pay tribute, saying: "Richard was by my side during two of the most important moments of my career. I was proud to know him."

Sir Nicholas Hytner, director of the National Theatre, said Griffiths's unexpected death would devastate his "army of friends".

He said: "Richard Griffiths wasn't only one of the most loved and recognizable 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."