Multi BAFTA Award winner Michael Gambon, star of the Harry Potter franchise, and such film and TV standouts as The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, and The Singing Detective has died.
Gambon was 82.
“We are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael Gambon,” his family said in a statement. “Beloved husband and father, Michael died peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside, following a bout of pneumonia.”
Gambon made the role of Harry Potter’s Albus Dumbledore his own after he took over from Richard Harris, who himself died after the making of the second film in the series. However, Gambon’s long history of TV and film appearances far eclipses the role for which he will be likely most fondly remembered.
Gambon’s film credits include The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (1989), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Robert Altman’s Gosford Park (2001) Matthew Vaughan’s (2005) thriller Layer Cake, Emma (2009), The King’s Speech (2010), and as the voice of Uncle Pastuzo in both Paddington films.
Gambon’s many and varied BAFTA-winning roles for TV include The Singing Detective, Wives and Daughters, Longitude, and Perfect Strangers.
Gambon also had a large body of stage work under his belt, and was the recipient of three Laurence Olivier Awards.
Gambon was from Cabra, in north Dublin, Ireland.
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