Biography
Sir Michael John Gambon (October 19, 1940 – September 27, 2023) was an Irish-English actor. He began his acting career with Laurence Olivier as one of the founding members of the Royal National Theatre. Throughout a career spanning six decades, he earned three Olivier Awards and four BAFTA TV Awards. In 1998, Queen Elizabeth II knighted him for his contributions to drama.
Gambon performed in numerous productions of William Shakespeare's plays, including Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Coriolanus. He received thirteen Olivier Award nominations, winning three for A Chorus of Disapproval (1985), A View from the Bridge (1987), and Man of the Moment (1990). In 1997, Gambon debuted on Broadway in David Hare's Skylight, which earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play.
His film debut came with Othello (1965). Other significant films included The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), The Wings of the Dove (1997), The Insider (1999), Gosford Park (2001), Amazing Grace (2006), The King's Speech (2010), Quartet (2012), and Victoria & Abdul (2017). Gambon also appeared in Wes Anderson's films The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). He gained broader fame for playing Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter film series from 2004 to 2011, succeeding Richard Harris after his death in 2002.
On television, Gambon won four BAFTA Awards for The Singing Detective (1986), Wives and Daughters (1999), Longitude (2000), and Perfect Strangers (2001). He was also nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards for Path to War (2002) and Emma (2009). Other notable TV projects included Cranford (2007) and The Casual Vacancy (2015). In 2017, he received the Irish Film & Television Academy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, The Irish Times ranked him No. 27 on its list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
