Simon Fisher-Becker, a British character actor best known for his small but memorable roles in the “Harry Potter” and the “Doctor Who” franchises, died on Sunday. He was 63.
His death was announced on social media by his husband, Anthony Dugdale. No cause was given.
Mr. Fisher-Becker was a versatile character actor whose career spanned film, theater and television, with a particular focus on comedy and drama. In the 2001 film “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” Mr. Fisher-Becker played the Fat Friar, the cheerful, resident ghost of the Hufflepuff House who welcomed students to Hogwarts. But it was the part of Dorium Maldovar, the large blue-skinned alien in the beloved BBC science-fiction show “Doctor Who,” that transformed his career, Mr. Fisher-Becker said in interviews.
“I was a jobbing actor for many years, but Maldovar changed everything,” Mr. Fisher-Becker told The Lancashire Telegraph in 2014. “People were suddenly asking about my availability instead of me asking them about auditions.”
Simon Fisher-Becker was born on Nov. 25, 1961, in London, and grew up in the area. He was interested in music as a child but discovered acting after being cast as Mr. Bumble in his school’s production of “Oliver Twist,” he has said in interviews.
“I found I enjoyed the process,’’ he said, “and that some things were quite natural for me to do.”
But Mr. Fisher-Becker didn’t seriously consider acting professionally until years later, after he was laid off from a government job and decided to take a drama course. He worked as a theater manager and a human resources manager while pursuing acting, he said in a 2023 interview.
In March 2009, Mr. Fisher-Becker was attacked at a gas station, which sidelined him from his work in musical stage comedy but freed him up to audition that December for Dorium Maldovar in BBC’s “Doctor Who,” he said in an interview with The Lancashire Telegraph. He grew up watching “Doctor Who,” which began airing on the BBC in 1963, with his family. “I never ever imagined that one day I’d be in ‘Doctor Who,’” he told The Telegraph.
Initially, Mr. Fisher-Becker was cast to appear only in one scene in an episode. But Dorium Maldovar was an immediate fan favorite, and he returned to appear in two more episodes.
Mr. Fisher-Becker appeared in dozens of television shows and films throughout his career, mostly in small roles. His credits also include “Afterlife,” a British supernatural drama; “Getting On,” a British comedy based on a geriatric ward in a government hospital; “Puppy Love,” a British comedy about dog training; and in the ensemble of the 2012 “Les Misérables” film for the number “Master of the House.”
A list of survivors was not immediately available.
Reflecting on the unpredictable nature of acting and landing roles, Mr. Fisher-Beck said in an interview: “You are always an audition away from something changing your life.”
