Tributes flow for dead Harry Potter star, Michael Gambon
Daniel Radcliffe has led tributes to his late Harry Potter co-star Michael Gambon whose global star rose after he played wizarding headmaster Albus Dumbledore in the popular films.
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Tributes have flowed for Harry Potter star, Michael Gambon, who died after a bout of pneumonia.
The British actor rose to global fame after he played Hogwart’s wizarding headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, in six of the eight Potter movies.
Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry in the series, called Gambon “one of the most brilliant, effortless actors I’ve ever had the privilege of working with.”
“With the loss of Michael Gambon the world just became considerably less fun,” Radcliffe wrote in a statement to Variety. “Michael Gambon was one of the most brilliant, effortless actors I’ve ever had the privilege of working with, but despite his immense talent, the thing I will remember most about him is how much fun he had doing his job. He was silly, irreverent and hilarious,” Radcliffe said.
“He loved his job, but never seemed defined by it. He was an incredible story and joke teller and his habit of blurring the lines of fact and fiction when talking to journalists meant that he was also one of the most entertaining people with whom you could ever wish to do a press junket.”
Other Harry Potter actors also shared tributes to Gambon on social media.
Emma Watson who played Hermione Granger, paid tribute by calling him “kind, kind Michael Gambon” on Instagram.
“You never took it too seriously but somehow delivered the most serious moments with all the gravitas,” she wrote. “Thank you for showing us what it looks like to wear greatness lightly. We will miss you.”
Rupert Grint, who played Ron Weasley, wrote on Instagram: “So sad to hear about Michael. He brought so much warmth and mischief to every day on set. He captivated me as a kid and became a personal role model of mine for finding the fun and eccentricities in life. Sending all my love to his family.”
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling called Gambon “a wonderful man in additional to being an outstanding actor,” writing on X/Twitter: “I absolutely loved working with him, not only on Potter but also The Casual Vacancy. My deepest condolences go to Michael’s family and everyone who loved him.”
Jason Isaacs, who played Lucius Malfoy in the series, added on X: “The greatest thrill of being in the Potter films was that [Michael Gambon] knew my name and shared his fearless, filthy sense of fun with me.”
Fiona Shaw (who played Harry Potter’s aunt, Petunia Dursley, in the films) told the BBC she will remember him for being a “brilliant, magnificent trickster”.
“I will remember him because he was also a gun maker, he could he could make guns, he always said he could fool the [Victoria & Albert Museum] into believing that they were 18th century guns.
“So I will think of him as a trickster, just brilliant, magnificent trickster, but with text, there was nothing like him, he could do anything.”
Actor James Phelps, who played Fred Weasley in the Potter films, said Gambon was “very funny and very welcoming with any knowledge that he had” recalling that the legendary actor would help him go through scripts for other projects.
“One day we were shooting Dumbledore’s final clock tower scene, obviously quite an intense scene. In between setups Michael asked what I was up to that weekend,” Phelps recalled.
“As it happened my brother and I were reading Peter and the Wolf with the Manchester Halle Orchestra.
“‘Do you have the script with you?’ He asked, I did, ‘I’ve done that, let’s go through it and if you like I can give you some notes,’” Phelps said.
“So we spent what should have been his downtime going over my weekend gig. It is a memory I’ve always had as one of the highlights of my [Harry Potter] days.”
Acclaimed British theatre actress Eileen Atkins also paid tribute to her friend, the “great actor” Gambon.
“He was a lot of fun. He was a great actor, but he always pretended he didn’t take it very seriously. Of course, he does really take it seriously,” she told the BBC.
“But presence on stage was amazing. He just had to walk on stage and he commanded the whole audience immediately. He was very lovely to play with, when he behaved. He behaved with me. Sometimes he really played tricks on stage. There was something very sweet about him, this huge man who could look very frightening but there was something incredibly sweet inside Michael.”
Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson said that he was “so sad to hear that Michael Gambon has died”, adding that the actor was such a “tremendous guest” he had a corner named after him on the BBC show’s racetrack.
“He was hugely amusing, and such a tremendous guest, we even named a corner after him.”
British comedian and screenwriter David Baddiel recalled seeing Gambon on stage when he was a kid.
“First time I ever went to see any Theatre with a capital T it was Michael Gambon in Brecht’s Life Of Galileo at The National in 1980,” Baddiel wrote on social media.
“It’s still the best stage acting I’ve ever seen. RIP.”
Gambon’s family confirmed that the actor had died in hospital from pneumonia.
“We are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael Gambon,” the family’s statement read.
“Beloved husband and father, Michael died peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside following a bout of pneumonia. Michael was 82. We ask that you respect our privacy at this painful time and thank you for your messages of support and love.”
THE MAN WHO WAS DUMBLEDORE
Gambon won four television BAFTAs during a 60-year acting career across TV, film, radio and theatre, which was capped off by his role as Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, based on JK Rowling’s famous book series.
Indeed, Gambon’s global stardom grew after he took over the role of Dumbledore - Hogwarts’ beloved wizarding headmaster - after the death of Richard Harris in 2002 who had played the part in the first two films in the series.
Gambon won four television BAFTAs during a 60-year acting career across TV, film, radio and theatre, which was capped off by his role as Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, based on JK Rowling’s famous book series.
Indeed, Gambon’s global stardom grew after he took over the role of Dumbledore - Hogwarts’ beloved wizarding headmaster - after the death of Richard Harris in 2002 who had played the part in the first two films in the series.
Gambon first appeared on screen as Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004, ultimately playing the role in a further five Potter films.
The popular movies brought him to a whole new audience, but Gambon said playing the famous wizard was “no great feat”.
“I don’t have to play anyone really. I just stick on a beard and play me, so it’s no great feat,” he told Future Movies.
“I never ease into a role - every part I play is just a variant of my own personality. I’m not really a character actor at all.”
But his peers and audiences would disagree, with Gambon considered one of Britain’s greatest ever actors.
AN ACTOR’S ACTOR
Born in Ireland to a seamstress mother and a WWII engineer father, Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivier as one of the original members of the Royal National Theatre. He made his film debut in Othello in 1965.
He became well known in Britain for playing a French detective in the television series Maigret, and for his 1986 role as Philip Marlow in screenwriter Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective.
He put in a memorable performance in the BBC’s 2015 adaptation of JK Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy, while his theatre credentials include appearances in Alan Ayckbourn’s The Norman Conquests, The Life Of Galileo and Nicholas Hytner’s National Theatre productions of Henry IV.
Aside from the wildly popular Potter series, standout film roles included the period dramas Gosford Park in 2001 and The King’s Speech in 2010.
He also starred alongside Cate Blanchett in the 2001 film, Charlotte Gray, based on women who worked with the French resistance in Nazi-occupied France.
Gambon was knighted by the Queen in 1998 for his contributions to the entertainment industry.
GAMBON’S COMPLICATED LOVE-LIFE
Gambon had a complicated love-life. He was married to wife Anne for more than 60 years, and the couple had one son, Fergus.
But the star had a second family with set designer Philippa Hart who he met on the 2000 set of Longitude. They went on to have two sons, Tom and Will.
At the time of his death, Gambon split his time between the $10 million home he shared with Anne and another property in London where Hart and their now-teenage sons live.
Actress Hetty Baynes, who co-starred with Gambon in the 2015 adaptation of JK Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy, said the actor was “never happier than when his boys were on set”.
“They were so sweet and you can see he absolutely adores them. But I’m sure they run him ragged,” she said in a 2015 interview.
“Having a child in later life can be an exhausting thing, but it brings so much joy. Philippa is amazing. She does an awful lot of the work and she’s absolutely delightful.”
– with AFP
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Originally published as Tributes flow for dead Harry Potter star, Michael Gambon
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