Entertainment
‘Harry Potter’ Actor Passes Away At 63
Simon Fisher-Becker, the portly actor best known for his affable role in the “Harry Potter” movie franchise, passed away at age 63.
Fisher-Becker’s death was confirmed by his agent Kim Barry as well as his husband Tony.
“Today I lost not only a client in Simon Fisher-Becker, but a close personal friend of 15 years standing,” Barry told the NY Post in a statement.
“I shall never forget the phone call I made to him when he was offered the part of Dorium Moldovar in BBC’s ‘Doctor Who.’”
Barry continued, “Simon was also a writer, a raconteur and a great public speaker. He helped me out enormously and was kind, gracious and interested in everyone. My condolences go to his husband Tony, his brother, nieces and nephews and his legion of fans.”
Despite working reliably a side character for most of his career, Fisher-Becker will forever be remembered as the Fat Friar in 2001’s “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” He first appeared while Daniel Radcliffe’s Potter was investigating the wizardry school of Hogwarts and stumbled upon the the friar, the resident ghost of the house of Hufflepuff.
On Sunday the actor’s husband posted a heartfelt message to his Facebook page.
“Hello everyone. This is Tony, Simon’s husband,” he wrote. “I have some very sad news. At 2:50 this afternoon Simon passed away.”
“I’ll be keeping this account open for a while. I’m not sure at this point if I’ll be posting again. Thank you,” he added.
Beyond the J.K. Rowling franchise, Fisher-Becker played the recurring character Dorium Maldovar in seasons 5 and 6 of “Doctor Who.” He returned for a spinoff podcast titled “Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles and Jenny — The Doctor’s Daughter.”
“I never ever imagined that one day I’d be in ‘Doctor Who,’” he told The Telegraph, adding he grew up watching the show with his family.
“I was a jobbing actor for many years, but Maldovar changed everything,” Mr. Fisher-Becker told The Lancashire Telegraph in 2014. “People were suddenly asking about my availability instead of me asking them about auditions.”
Additional highlights from Fisher-Becker’s career include BBC’s “Puppy Love” as well as other beloved British shows such as “One Foot in the Grave,” “The Bill,”m”Love Soup,” and “Afterlife.” He was part of the Oscar-winning cast for the 2012 film “Les Misérables.”
Born in 1961 in northwest London, he first took to music as a child before discovering his love for acting after participating in a school performance of “Oliver Twist,” he stated in other past interviews.
“I found I enjoyed the process,’’ he said, “and that some things were quite natural for me to do.”
He did not pursue acting as a career until he was forced into considering a change after being laid off from a government job. He worked for a time as a theater manager while auditioning, he explained in a 2023 interview, and always kept himself prepared for when his big break may appear right around the corner.
“You are always an audition away from something changing your life,” Fisher-Becker said at the time.
