Death of Michael Gambon, Dumbledore of the Harry Potter saga, at the age of 82

Theater actor Michael Gambon, best known for his portrayal of director Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter universe, has died, his loved ones announced this Thursday, September 28. He joins the sad list of missing actors from the saga.

“A beloved husband and father, Michael died peacefully in hospital with his wife or child and son Fergus at his bedside following pneumonia.”According to the press release of his family, which is distributed by AFP.

Debut on stage

Michael Gambon began his career in the mid-1960s at Britain’s National Theater under the artistic direction of Laurence Olivier, with whom he made his big screen debut in Othello in 1965. For the next fifteen years, Gambon devoted himself. Mainly in theater and has established itself as one of the most famous stage representatives across the channel.

On the big screen, Michael Gambon, an actor with a rugged and impressive physique, began to make a name for himself in 1989 with the feature film “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and His Lover”, directed by Peter Greenaway, and then Little. Roles in The Untamed (1991), Toys (1992) or The Lessons of Life (1994). In 1996, his film career reached a new level with Mary Reilly, in which he played the role of the hero’s father.

Eternal Albus Dumbledore

Michael Gambon then excelled in Michael Mann’s The Revelations, and then, true to his passion for costume films, turned himself in for Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow and Robert Altman’s Gosford Park. After a stint as Prime Minister in the comedy Ali G, he joined the cast of two major American productions: Kevin Costner and Harry Potter’s Western Open Range and Alfonso Cuaron’s Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he replaced the late Richard Harris. He takes on the role of mentor to the young wizard during the next five installments of the magical saga.

We next find him vocally in Paddington and its sequels as Uncle Pastuso and as the narrator of Hail, Caesar!, before seeing him reprise his role as the famous Winston Churchill in The Churchillian Secret (2016). He then appeared in the film My Life by John F. Behind Donovan’s and Johnny English’s hits, then with “Gentleman Thieves.” Forced to leave the theater due to memory loss, Gambon will make his final film appearance in the horror thriller Cordelia (2019).

He died at the age of 82.