Nearly Headless Nick

Nearly Headless Nick, in the Harry Potter novels by J. K. Rowling, is the nickname of the Gryffindor ghost (actually named Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington) whose neck was almost completely severed in life, but not enough to join in the games of ghosts who had been decapitated on earth (a source of annual vexation to the ghost). Harry Potter becomes friends with Sir Nicholas when he attends his "deathday" party in a Hogwarts dungeon.

In the movie versions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (also called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Sir Nicholas is played by John Cleese.