Michael Byrne, a versatile British actor who appeared in “Indiana Jones and the Lost Crusade” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1,” died on June 20, The Guardian reported. He was 82.
No cause of death was given.
Byrne played ruthless Nazi Ernst Vogel in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” and the elderly wizard Gellert Grindelwald in the penultimate “Harry Potter” film, released in 2010, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Byrne was also memorable as a soldier who attempts to rape the wife of William Wallace (played by Mel Gibson) in “Braveheart” (1995).
Byrne, who was born on Nov. 7, 1943, in London, launched his TV career in the early 1960s and ’70s with roles on such series as “No Hiding Place,” “NET Playhouse,” “New Scotland Yard” and “Thriller,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
He made his film debut in “The Scarlet Blade” in 1963 after starting on stage with Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre Company, Variety reported.
On stage, Byrne starred in productions of “Romeo and Juliet,” “The Cherry Orchard,” “Much Ado About Nothing,” “Death and the Maiden at the Royal Court, “The Double Dealer” and “The Seagull,” according to the entertainment news magazine.
Byrne also had roles in several films, including “The Good Father” (1985), “Tomorrow Never Dies” (1997), “The Saint” (1997), “Gangs of New York” (2002), “The Sum of All Fears” (2002) and “Quartet” (2012), according to Variety.
During the 1970s, Byrne appeared in the films The Eagle Has Landed" (1976), “chase’ ”A Bridge Too Far" (1977) and “Force 10 From Navarone,” (1978), according to The Hollywood Reporter.