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Harry Melling (actor)

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Harry Melling
Melling during the 2018 Venice Film Festival
Born
Harry Edward Melling

13 March 1989 (1989-03-13) (age 35)
London, England
Alma materLondon Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
OccupationActor
Years active2000–present
RelativesPatrick Troughton (grandfather)
David Troughton (uncle)
Michael Troughton (uncle)
Jim Troughton (cousin)
Sam Troughton (cousin)

Harry Edward Melling (born 13 March 1989)[1] is an English actor, best known for playing Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films. He played a young thespian with no arms or legs in the Coen brothers' 2018 film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.[2]

Early life

Melling was born in London. His maternal grandfather was actor Patrick Troughton, best known for his role as the Second Doctor in Doctor Who. He is also the nephew of actors David Troughton and Michael Troughton, and the first cousin of cricketer Jim Troughton and actor Sam Troughton.

Melling attended St Paul's Primary School, Hendon School and Mill Hill School. He was a member of the National Youth Theatre. He trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Career

In his early career, Melling performed in stage productions of The Provoked Wife, King John, Antigone, and Plenty. He appeared in five of the Harry Potter films as Harry Potter's spoiled cousin Dudley Dursley. In 2009, he starred in a revival of Mother Courage and her Children at the Royal National Theatre. He appeared in "The Sorcerer's Shadow", an episode of the BBC television series Merlin, playing a young warlock named Gilli who intends to use magic to help him win Camelot's legendary tournament. He also played Robert Brown in the BBC television series Just William.

In October 2009, it was announced that Melling had lost so much weight since his last appearance in Harry Potter that he was now "unrecognisable". His role as Dudley Dursley was almost recast for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, but Melling reprised the role by wearing a fat suit. He commented positively about the change, "I can now shed the child actor thing, like the fat, and start a new career, because no one sees me as Dudley."[3]

In 2018 Melling played alongside Liam Neeson in the Coen brothers' Western The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Of Melling's performance, New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane wrote:

[I] came away haunted by a scattering of sights and sounds--above all, by the recitations of the limbless man, which thrum with genuine yearning. He is beautifully played, with a little help from C.G.I., by Harry Melling, who was once the odious Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films. Funny how people grow up.[4]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2001 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Dudley Dursley
2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2004 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2010 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1
2016 The Lost City of Z William Barclay
2018 The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Harrison Segment: "Meal Ticket"
2018 The Keeper Sergeant Smythe
2019 Waiting for the Barbarians Garrison Soldier 4
2020 The Old Guard Merrick Post-production
2020 The Devil All the Time Roy Laferty Post-production
TBA The Tragedy of Macbeth Malcolm Filming

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2005 Friends and Crocodiles Young Oliver
2010 Merlin Gilli Episode: "The Sorcerer's Shadow"
2010 Just William Robert Brown
2011 Garrow's Law George Pinnock Series 3
2016 The Musketeers Bastien Episode: "Fool's Gold"
2019 His Dark Materials Sysselman Episode 4
2019 The War of the Worlds Artilleryman Episode: 1 & 2

Stage

Year Title Role Venue
2009 Mother Courage and her Children Swiss Cheese Royal National Theatre
2010 Bedroom, Dens and Other Forms of Magic Theatre503
2010 Women Beware Women Young Ward Royal National Theatre
2011 The School for Scandal Sir Benjamin Backbite Barbican Centre
2011 When Did You Last See My Mother? Ian Trafalgar Studios
2012 I Am a Camera Christopher Isherwood Southwark Playhouse
2013 Smack Family Robinson Sean Robinson Rose Theatre, Kingston
2013 The Hothouse Lamb Trafalgar Studios
2013 King Lear Fool Minerva Theatre, Chichester
2014 King Lear Fool Brooklyn Academy of Music
2014 Peddling Boy HighTide Festival
2014 The Angry Brigade Morris
Commander
Prophet
Snitch
Manager
Jim		 Theatre Royal, Plymouth
Oxford Playhouse
Warwick Arts Centre
Watford Palace Theatre
2016 Hand to God Jason /Tyrone Vaudeville Theatre, London
2016 King Lear Edgar The Old Vic
2017 Jam Kane Finborough Theatre

Video games

Year Title Role Notes
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Dudley Dursley Voice

References

  1. ^ "Harry Melling shares his thoughts with MuggleNet on the black comedy "Smack Family Robinson" in an exclusive interview".
  2. ^ "Interview: Harry Melling talks The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Netflix and Liam Neeson with horses". VODzilla.com. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  3. ^ Jardine, Cassandra (6 October 2009). "Harry Potter star: My life after Dudley Dursley". The Telegraph.
  4. ^ Lane, Anthony (19 November 2018). "The Fractious, Frustrating Thrills of 'Widows' [Desperate Measures]". The New Yorker. Retrieved 24 November 2018..
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