Michael Gambon’s Cause Of Death Revealed: How Dumbledore’s Actor Died
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An acting legend. Michael Gambon’s cause of death was announced by his family on September 28, 2023. He was 82.
Michael Gambon started his prolific acting career in the Gate Theatre’s 1962 production of Othello, playing “Second Gentleman.” As a theater actor, he won three Laurence Olivier Awards; in 1986, for best comedy performance, for Ayckbourn’s A Chorus of Disapproval; in 1988, for best actor, for Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge”; and in 1990, for comedy performance, for Ayckbourn’s “Man of the Moment.”
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Gambon took over the role of Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban after the death of original Dumbledore actor Richard Harris. Gambon admitted that he had never read the “Harry Potter” series, “I’d never seen any of the previous films, but working on the series was huge fun — and for lots of dosh.”
Though with over 150 credits on screen, Gambon preferred to be on the stage. He talked about his acting methods throughout his nearly 50 year long career. “You just do it,” says Gambon to The Guardian. “That’s what acting is. But I admit I try and summon up a powerful image. The one I often think of is that of a little girl in uniform, taken during the Vietnam war, with her clothes and body on fire because of an aerial bomb. I believe she recovered and is now a doctor, which makes me feel I’m not simply exploiting someone else’s tragedy.”
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So how did Michael Gambon die? Read more to find out.
Michael Gambon Cause of Death
Michael Gambon died on September 28, 2023. His family issued 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. Michael was 82.”
In 2015, Gambon retired from stage acting after suffering from memory loss. “It’s a horrible thing to admit, but I can’t do it. It breaks my heart,” he told The Sunday Times (via ABC News). “It’s when the script’s in front of me and it takes me forever to learn it. It’s frightening.”
He recalled how he would recite lines after experiencing the loss. “There was a girl in the wings and I had to plug in my ear so she could read me the lines,” he said. “After about an hour I thought, ‘This can’t work. You can’t be in theater, free on the stage, shouting and screaming and running around with someone reading to you.’ “
He affirmed that the stage was where he wanted to be as an actor. “Theater’s the only place for me to be. When the curtain goes up, on you come. No one’s stopping you. No one can shout ‘cut’. There’s a thousand people sitting there and they can see you moving, all over. They watch every part — how you walk, how you stand. The way you sit. The way you look at people.” He still continued to act in movies adding, “You’ve got to go to work, haven’t you?”
How did the cast of Harry Potter react to Michael Gambon’s death?
When news broke of his death, James Phelps who played Fred Weasley in the Harry Potter films, posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Very sorry to hear about the passing of Michael Gambon. He was, on and off the camera, a legend. Just a little memory of Michael.” He also posted the screenshot, “Whilst shooting HP6 I worked on the AD department for the whole shoot (apart from the days I was acting). And for that reason I spent many hours with Michael during the shoot. He was always very funny and very welcoming to share any knowledge he had.”
He continued, ” One day we were shooting Dumbledore’s final clock tower scene, obviously quite an intense scene. In between set ups Michael asked what I was up to that weekend. 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 got [sic] through it and if you like I can give some notes.” 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 HP days.”
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