Michael Gambon, Best Known for Playing Dumbledore in ‘Harry Potter,’ Dies at 82

Michael Gambon, the actor best known for portraying Dumbledore in Harry Potter, has passed away at the age of 82. The death was announced by his wife, Anne Miller, and their son Fergus Gambon.

“We are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael Gambon,” his family said in a statement provided to Variety. “Beloved husband and father, Michael died peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside, following a bout of pneumonia.”

The accomplished Irish–English actor began his career in his early twenties, having pivoted from working as an engineering technician. He made his debut in a 1962 production of Othello at Dublin's Gate Theatre after writing a letter to the institution’s impresario. The play acted as a launching pad for Gambon’s work as a Shakespearean actor. He went on to join the National Theatre Company in London, auditioning with an excerpt from Shakespeare’s Richard III, just a year later.

In tandem with a prolific career in stage work, Gambon also accrued countless television and film credits. He notably portrayed President Lyndon Johnson in the 2002 HBO flick Path to War, for which he received an Emmy nomination.

In 2002, he made his debut in the role of Albus Dumbledore, taking over from the late Richard Harris, in the franchise’s third installment, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He reprised the part in the five ensuing films, and Dumbledore has become the most well-known performance of his decades-long career.