Irish actor who has worked in theatre, television and film. A highly respected theatre actor, Gambon is recognised for his role as Philip Marlow in the BBC television serial The Singing Detective and for his role as Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter film series, replacing the late actor Richard Harris. Gambon made his professional stage début in the Gate Theatre Dublin’s 1962 production of Othello, playing “Second Gentleman”, followed by a European tour. A year later, cheekily auditioning with the opening soliloquy from Richard III, he caught the eye of star-maker Laurence Olivier who was recruiting promising spear carriers for his new National Theatre Company. He made his film debut in the Laurence Olivier Othello in 1965. He then played romantic leads, notably in the early 1970s BBC television series, The Borderers, in which he was swashbuckling Gavin Ker. In 1992 he played a psychotic general in the Barry Levinson film Toys and he also starred as Georges Simenons detective Inspector Jules Maigret in an ITV adaptation of Simenon’s series of books. Other roles include that of Fyodor Dostoyevsky in the Hungarian director Károly Makk’s movie The Gambler (1997). In recent years, Gambon has appeared in films such as Dancing at Lughnasa (1998), Plunkett & Macleane (1998), and Sleepy Hollow (1999), as well as television appearances in series such as Wives and Daughters (1999) (for which he won another BAFTA), a made-for-TV adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame (2001) and Perfect Strangers (2001).
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