00:00 Actor Michael Gambon, who was best known for playing Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter
00:05 series of movies, has died. He was 82. "We are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael
00:13 Gambon," read a statement from his publicist. Beloved husband and father, Michael died
00:20 peacefully in hospital with his wife and and son Fergus at his bedside, following a bout of pneumonia.
00:27 Gambon took over the role of Albus Dumbledore following the death of actor Richard Harris.
00:32 He bought a different tenor to the role, one intentionally disparate from the character's
00:38 portrayal in the original books. In 2009 he told the LA Times that since he was dealing with the
00:45 screenwriter's words, he saw no point in reading the books. Gambon was born in 1940 in Ireland.
00:54 He started his acting career on stage and was hired by Laurence Olivier to join in the National
01:00 Theatre's first production, Hamlet. He won multiple awards for his stage acting, including three
01:08 Olivier Awards. He became a big-name actor in Britain after starring in the 1986 BBC series
01:15 The Singing Detective. That role earned him his first of four BAFTA awards. Gambon was knighted
01:22 in 1998. Besides reprising his role as Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series, he was a
01:30 versatile actor showing up in film and television roles such as Paddington, Hale, Caesar, and the
01:37 BBC's adaptation of J.K. Rowling's novel, The Casual Vacancy. He was an admirer of Rowling's
01:45 work, but that wasn't his top priority as an actor. "I didn't do Harry Potter because she wrote it,"
01:52 Gambon said in an interview. "I did it because I wanted the money."
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