By Jill Lawless
LONDON (AP) --Versatile British actor Paul Ritter, whose roles ranged from a hapless suburban patriarch in sitcom "Friday Night Dinner" to a Soviet engineer who helps cause a nuclear disaster in "Chernobyl," has died, his agent said Tuesday. He was 54 and had been suffering from a brain tumor.
A familiar face to British television viewers and theatregoers, Ritter played Martin Goodman, the eccentric father of a London Jewish family, in the acerbic but warm Channel 4 sitcom "Friday Night Dinner."
He also played ill-fated nuclear engineer Anatoly Dyatlov in the Emmy-winning HBO drama "Chernobyl;" the wizard Eldred Worple in "Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince;" and a devious political operative in the James Bond film "Quantum of Solace."
Those who worked with Ritter in his most famous roles rated him highly. Robert Popper, the creator of "Friday Night Dinner," said Ritter "was a lovely, wonderful human being. Kind, funny, super caring and the greatest actor I ever worked with."
"Chernobyl" screenwriter Craig Mazin said on Twitter that Ritter was "one of the most gentle, gracious and brilliant people I've ever known, much less worked with. We lost him today, and far too soon. I wish his family and loved ones peace and comfort as they mourn the passing of this beautiful man."
Ritter was a compelling stage actor, a frequent and memorable cast member in productions at Britain's National Theatre, including "All My Sons," "Coram Boy" and "The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time." He also appeared in "Art" at London's Old Vic and on a West End stage as Prime Minister John Major, performing opposite Helen Mirren's Queen Elizabeth II in the royal drama "The Audience."
The actor was nominated for a Tony Award in 2009 for his performance in Alan Ayckbourn's farce "The Norman Conquests" on Broadway.
Actor Russell Tovey said Ritter was "one of the nicest and best actors you'll ever meet."
Actor-comedian Rob Delaney tweeted that Ritter had "knocked it out of the PARK in Chernobyl. Watching it I consciously thought, 'Oh, we have a new movie star.' Between that & how funny he was in Friday Night Dinner… just unreal talent."
Agency Markham, Froggatt & Irwin said Ritter died Monday night "peacefully at home with his wife Polly and sons Frank and Noah by his side."
"Paul was an exceptionally talented actor playing an enormous variety of roles on stage and screen with extraordinary skill," the agency said. "He was fiercely intelligent, kind and very funny. We will miss him greatly."
South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users
South Korea's privacy watchdog on Tuesday fined social media company Meta 21.6 billion won ($15 million) for illegally collecting sensitive personal information from Facebook users, including data about their political views and sexual orientation, and sharing it with thousands of advertisers.
It was the latest in a series of penalties against Meta by South Korean authorities in recent years as they increase their scrutiny of how the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, handles private information.
Following a four-year investigation, South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission concluded that Meta unlawfully collected sensitive information about around 980,000 Facebook users, including their religion, political views and whether they were in same-sex unions, from July 2018 to March 2022.
It said the company shared the data with around 4,000 advertisers.
South Korea's privacy law provides strict protection for information related to personal beliefs, political views and sexual behavior, and bars companies from processing or using such data without the specific consent of the person involved.
The commission said Meta amassed sensitive information by analyzing the pages the Facebook users liked or the advertisements they clicked on.
The company categorized ads to identify users interested in themes such as specific religions, same-sex and transgender issues, and issues related to North Korean escapees, said Lee Eun Jung, a director at the commission who led the investigation on Meta.
"While Meta collected this sensitive information and used it for individualized services, they made only vague mentions of this use in their data policy and did not obtain specific consent," Lee said.
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