From the moment the movie about the adventures of a boy who survived was released, the Dursleys were perhaps the most unpleasant characters. After all, it was they who had hopes for raising Harry, but, as it turned out, they had their own opinion on this. The most annoying of all was Harry's cousin - Dudley Dursley (the actor who played him is Harry Melling). Despite the fact that at the time the filming began, the guy was too young, the spark of talent was still in him: you had to get into your role in such a way that the audience felt very strong and sincere emotions looking at him.
Who are you, Dudley?
Let's start, as they say, from the stove. According to a story told in books and films about a boy with a scar, he is the only son of Petunia and Vernon Dursl, just a month older than the main character. It was on his eleventh birthday that a very strange incident happened with a boa constrictor, when the whole family came for another gift for their little sweetie (after all, their beloved son was terribly angry because he had one less gift for this birthday than last).
Dudley Dursley (the photo of this character was on the pages of many glossy publications after the audience met him) only celebrated his first anniversary of how his parents had to bring up his cousin Harry Potter. But between the boys, who were close relatives and also peers, friendship did not happen. Parents loved Dudley, and Harry had an extra mouth, a burden.
From childhood, the younger Dursle was firmly convinced that everything he wanted to be sure to be fulfilled. But his brother is to blame for everything, starting with the fact that he lives in their house.
The boy is growing up
When it's time to go to school. Dudlik (as his mother affectionately called him) made friends with guys like him - selfish, self-confident and spoiled. This whole company complemented each other perfectly. Harry suffered the most from their pranks (sometimes evil enough). That was until July 23, 1991, when it was completely by accident that it turned out that the cousin was a real wizard.
Everything happened at Dudley’s birthday, when the whole family (and even Harry, although he usually didn’t go anywhere with them) went to the zoo. They were in the terrarium when suddenly Dudley Dursley (actor Harry Melling with particular diligence played this scene because he considered it very important for the further development of events) suddenly noticed that the huge snake does not behave as usual. He pushed his cousin away and literally stuck to the glass, watching her. Suddenly, the glass separating visitors from the python disappeared (“as if by magic,” Dudley’s parents would later say) and the boy fell right into the “apartment” to the snake. But she did not attack, but simply crawled away. Naturally, everyone felt that Harry was to blame for what happened. He was even locked in a closet, which was under the stairs, for a whole month.
That's the kind of character Dudley Dursley has. An actor who happened to “revive” him on the screen in life is not at all like his character. But Melling tried to show his hero as his complete opposite. And he did it brilliantly.
Dudley in ordinary life: what is he, Harry Melling?
In the first series of Potterians, the audience met one of the heroes of this story - a small guy named Dudley Dursley. The actor, whose biography underwent significant changes after the publication of the first series, came from an acting family, he is the grandson of actor Patrick Trauton, who was remembered for his role as the Second Doctor in the TV series Doctor Who back in the late sixties.
The boy was born on the thirteenth March day of 1989 in London. As a schoolboy, he changed two educational institutions. First it was a school located in the northern part of London - Hendon School, and then - Mill Hill School.
Melling was a student at a theater school in Northwest London and a student at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Now he goes on the stage of the National Youth Theater (here he made his debut in a remake of the play about mother Kurazh and her children, sharing the stage with his serial mother Petunia Dursl - actress Fiona Shaw).
The grown-up Dudley Dursley, whose films did not stop at the story of fifteen years ago, continues to be actively filmed. Harry is currently working on the role of Robert Brown in the new Air Force series.
Interesting fact about filming
In the fall of 2009, when shooting the next series about Harry Potter was in full swing, it turned out that Melling had lost a lot of weight. Now his appearance (compared to how he looked in previous series) was completely different.
And so that the audience could not find any differences, the actor made a special costume that visually added kilograms to him. So, during the filming of the last story about a surviving boy, he again became a dummy of Dudley Dursley. The actor enthusiastically accepted this decision because after losing kilograms, he decided that in his new career there would be no stereotype connecting him only with the younger Dursle.