Robert Hardy

 As a way of tipping my hat to Robert Hardy- who has just died at an advanced age- I watched a couple of clips of the TV show Manhunt (1969-70)- in which he played the anti-hero- Gratz- a chippy, love-lorn Nazi policeman- a sort of powder keg on legs- who succeeds in alienating our sympathies from the British bulldogs who might have been supposed to be the heroes. His performance is every bit as riveting as I remember. He started out in the classics- but came into his own on television- most famously in a popular show about vets which I never watched- and as a serial impersonator of Winston Churchill. He wasn't quite a star or quite a character actor but something in-between- as so many of the best-loved performers are. Millennials will remember him as Cornelius Fudge- a memorable performance in the huge mosaic of memorable performances that is the Potter franchise.