Celebrity Biographies
Paul Ritter
He was known for his performances in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and “Chernobyl.” The British Paul Ritter died on April 5, 2021, at the age of 54, as a result of a brain tumor, as confirmed by his agent. “He died peacefully at home with his wife Polly and his sons Frank and Noah by his side. He was an exceptionally talented actor who played an enormous variety of roles on stage and screen with extraordinary skill. He was tremendously intelligent, kind and very funny. We will miss him very much,” he wrote in a statement.
Born on March 5, 1966 in Gravesent (Kent), Simon Paul Adams –his real name– was the son of a tool maker and a school secretary, both Catholics. He studied at Gravesend Grammar School, and later graduated in Modern Languages from St John’s College, Cambridge. After finishing at the latter center, he enrolled in acting at the German National Theater in Hamburg (Germany). Back in his UK country, he adopted the stage name Paul Ritter because another Simon Adams was registered with the Actors Union.
In the cinema he stood out as the magician and writer Eldred Worple in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince , and as an adviser to the Prime Minister in Quantum of Solace , from the James Bond saga. He also played Soviet nuclear engineer Anatoly Diatlov, who was supervising a nuclear test that led to a fateful accident at Chernobyl . In his country, he took part in numerous television series, although he became popular above all for the comedy Friday Night Dinner .
In 1996, Paul Ritter married Polly Radcliffe, a researcher at King’s College London, with whom he took up residence in Faversham, Kent. The marriage had two children, Frank and Noah.
Paul Ritter was lavished in the theater. He was nominated for a Tony Award in 2009 for his role in “The Conquests of Norman” and an Olivier Award in 2006 for his performance in “Coram Boy.”