Stars react to the death of Michael Gambon

Iconic film and theater actor Michael Gambon died today at the age of 82 following a “bout of pneumonia” (according to his family), and since the man had a long and storied career even before taking on his most famous role—as Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series, beginning with Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban—a lot of his admirers and colleagues in show business are reflecting on their fond memories of working with him or seeing him perform (like Richard E. Grant, who shared a photo and simply said “THE GREAT GAMBON” on social media).

Jason Isaacs, who played Lucious Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, referred to Gambon as “magnificent” and said that he “learned what acting could be” from watching Gambon in The Singing Detective: “Complex, vulnerable, and utterly human.” He said that the “greatest thrill” of the Harry Potter movies was that Gambon knew his name and “shared his fearless, filthy sense of fun” with him.

The great Jared Harris, son of actor Richard Harris (who played Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter movies), said that it was fitting that Gambon had replaced his father in those movies since Gambon had previously replaced Marlon Brando as his father’s favorite actor. His comment was prompted by a link to one of Gambon’s memorable appearances on BBC’s Top Gear, and former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson also noted that Gambon was “hugely amusing” and a “tremendous guest” on that show, and he famously had a corner on the Top Gear test track named after him.

James Phelps, who played Fred Weasley in the Harry Potter movies (opposite his real-life twin Oliver, who played George), shared a longer statement on social media in memory of Gambon. In addition to saying he was “a legend” on and off-camera, Phelps reminisced about a time Gambon volunteered to work with him on another project during downtime on one of the movies, noting, “He was always very funny and very welcoming to share any knowledge he had.”