Michael Gambon arriving for the London premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 in 2011 (Photo: Shutterstock)
Actor Michael Gambon died yesterday at the age of 82. Gambon was known internationally for playing the role of Professor Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies (he replaced Richard Harris, who died in 2002).
Gambon, who was born in Dublin, Ireland, had a long list of credits to his name, such as the BBC drama The Singing Detective. His many movies included Judy,Sleepy Hollow, and The King’s Speech.
In 2007, Gambon starred alongside a young actor, Danny Lee Wynter, in a Stephen Poliakoff movie called Joe’s Palace. The film centered around the relationship between an older character, played by Gambon, and the teenager (Wynter) who he hires to look after a vacant property.
Wynter has since gone on to earn himself an Olivier Award nomination for his theater work. His first self-penned play, the queer-flavored BLACK SUPERHERO, ran earlier this year at London’s Old Vic.
Wynter, who is gay, took to Instagram to post a touching tribute to Gambon.
“My friend, the incomparable Sir Michael Gambon has gone. He was everything you could imagine and more. Beyond the mischief a solitary, serious genius. I idolized him. He took me under his wing on my first job, looked after me, gave me memories that could fill a book.
“Months after the Poliakoff gig I was walking out of a screening room in Soho with Michael. I’d never seen myself on screen. It was pre-dubbing, no music, hadn’t been graded, just the bare bones of a film.
“My heart sank. I thought I’d f*cked it. I sensed Michael wasn’t happy with himself either. ‘You’re good in it’ he said lighting up a fag. ‘I suppose yer gonna go bumming in Soho now, are you? You know I tried it once, it made my eyes water’.”
Soho is the center of London’s LGBTQ+ community. It’s worth noting Gambon eluded to having gay sex when younger on other occasiona. A Guardian profile mentioned a similar comment in 2004.
“Try to be happy … you must try”
“We walked down Dean Street, everyone staring at us,” Wynter continued. “As we walked I looked up and to my shock saw my Dad walk past. We locked eyes and then he carried on walking. Me and my father share a complex relationship. But I was stunned he was going to walk on.
“‘Dad!’ I cried out. He looked up, came over and I introduced them. I then watched my father morph into a big kid. He kept calling him ‘Sir’ and banging on about Lock Stock. ‘Your son did good,’ Gamberonie told him of the film we just watched. ‘So did you,’ I said. ‘Oh, shut up you!’ Gambon barked, ‘What do you know, eh?’.
“The two men laughed. I didn’t feel embarrassed like I’d done in the past.
“Perhaps there were times when Dad was embarrassed of who I was. But I felt proud,” Wynter said. “Proud cos I’d become an actor with zero encouragement, not too dissimilar from this man who my father now called ‘Sir.’ I felt my Dad’s love on that street, though I’d long since cared about seeking it.
“Gambon already knew about my old man when months before we were stuck in a canoe in Bodium Castle. For an entire day, we covered everything: childhood, religion, sexuality, idols, regrets. Now here they were in this impromptu meeting.
“After we said goodbye we carried on walking in silence toward Chinatown. Gambon out of nowhere said ‘Funny things, fathers …Try to be happy, Danny. You must try.’ Then he walked off and I watched him bleed into the crowd … The Singing Detective.
Wynter is just one of many who have paid tribute to Gambon. Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe told Variety, “With the loss of Michael Gambon the world just became considerably less fun. Michael Gambon was one of the most brilliant, effortless actors I’ve ever had the privilege of working with, but despite his immense talent, the thing I will remember most about him is how much fun he had doing his job.”
Radcliffe said Gambon was “silly, irreverent and hilarious.”
“He loved his job, but never seemed defined by it. He was an incredible story and joke teller and his habit of blurring the lines of fact and fiction when talking to journalists meant that he was also one of the most entertaining people with whom you could ever wish to do a press junket.”
Helen Mirren played opposite Gambon in The Cook, The Thief, The Wife and Her Lover, Gosford Park, and on stage in a 1982 production of Anthony & Cleopatra. She told the BBC she would smile when she thinks of him, “Because he was incredibly funny. He had this natural Irish sense of humor, naughty but very, very funny. He was enormously self-deprecating, and at the same time an instinctive actor and a wonderful person to be around just in general.”
Gambon’s family announced his death yesterday. Their statement 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.”
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