LONDON • Actor Robert Hardy, a familiar face on British television who also played the minister of magic in the Harry Potter franchise, has died at 91, his family said on Thursday. The cause of death was not revealed.

Born in 1925, he started his career at 24 in a stage adaptation of William Shakespeare's Coriolanus, the first of many theatre roles.

He was part of several long-standing television shows, including BBC's famed All Creatures Great And Small, which ran for 12 years.

Hardy also portrayed war-time leader Winston Churchill many times. The Bafta-nominated actor later appeared in the Harry Potter films as Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, a role he reprised four times.

He was awarded a Commander of the British Empire - one of Britain's highest honours - in 1981 for his services to acting.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE