Dave Legeno, ‘Harry Potter’ films’ Fenrir Greyback, found dead at 50

Dave Legeno, the actor who played werewolf Fenrir Greyback in three “Harry Potter” films, was found dead Sunday in Death Valley.

The 50-year-old was found by a couple of hikers early in the morning near a remote wash, L.A. Now reported. A California Highway Patrol helicopter brought the British actor’s body out of the national park.

Legeno likely died days before his body was found, deputy coroner Jason Molinar told the Associated Press.

Early word from the Inyo County Sheriff’s Department blaming the death on heatstroke was confirmed by an autopsy, TMZ said, adding that Legeno’s body was still with the coroner while his family made plans.

Legaro, who was also a mixed martial-arts fighter and appeared in films including “Snow White and the Huntsman,” played Fenrir in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II.”

He isn’t the first actor in the “Potter” franchise to pass away. Among the deceased: Richard Harris (Albus Dumbledore in the first two films), Alfred Burke (Armando Dippet), Timothy Bateson (voice of Kreacher), Richard Griffiths (Vernon Dursley), Eric Sykes (Frank Bryce) and Robert Knox (Marcus Belby).

Of those only Knox, who was stabbed to death at 18 in London while trying to defend his brother in 2008, was younger than Legeno when he died.

According to PBS’s “Savage Planet,” there are about 10 heat-related fatalities annually in Death Valley. During the summer, the thermometer frequently tops out over 120 degrees.

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