Actor Sir Michael Gambon, who played the role of the benevolent wizard Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, has died peacefully in hospital aged 82, his family has said. A statement issued on behalf of his wife, Lady Anne Gambon, and son Fergus Gambon said: “We are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael Gambon. “Beloved husband and father, Michael died peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside, following a bout of pneumonia.” Gambon played the magical character in six of the eight films in the franchise and also won four TV Baftas over the course of his five-decade career.
He is also known for playing French detective Jules Maigret in ITV’s Maigret, and for starring in the BBC’s The Singing Detective. Harry Potter author JK Rowling has paid tribute to Gambon, recalling the first time she “laid eyes on him” in 1982, years before she wrote the saga in which he would later star. “I've just heard the awful news about Michael Gambon. The first time I ever laid eyes on him was in King Lear, in 1982, and if you'd told me then that brilliant actor would appear in anything I'd written, I'd have thought you were insane,” she wrote on X. “Michael was a wonderful man in additional to being an outstanding actor, and I absolutely loved working with him, not only on Potter but also The Casual Vacancy. My deepest condolences go to Michael's family and everyone who loved him.”