Michael Gambon

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Sir Michael John Gambon, CBE (born October 19, 1940), is an acclaimed Irish-born actor who has worked in television, film and theatre.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early acting career 1.2 Success and acceptance 1.3 Today 1.4 Personal life 1.5 Boredom and the Press 1.6 Transport 2 Partial filmography 3 Quotations 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Biography

He was born in Dublin during World War II. His father, an engineer, decided to seek work in the rebuilding of London, and so Michael and his seamstress mother moved to Mornington Crescent in north London, when he was five. Unbeknownst to Michael, his father took out official papers for him, making him a British citizen — a decision that would later allow Michael to be awarded a substantive CBE and a knighthood.^[1] (Although, under the British Nationality Act 1981 anyone born in Ireland before 1949 can still register as a British subject and, after five years' UK residence, as a British citizen.)

Raised a strict Roman Catholic, he attended Jesuit St Aloysius Boys' School in Somers Town and served on the altar. He then moved to St Aloysius' College in Hornsey Lane, Highgate, London, whose former pupils included Peter Sellers. He later attended a school in Kent, before leaving with no qualifications at fifteen. He then gained an apprenticeship with Vickers Armstrong as a toolmaker. By the time he was 21 he was a fully qualified engineer. He kept the job for a further year – acquiring a fascination and passion for collecting antique guns, clocks and watches, as well as classic cars.

[edit] Early acting career

Aged 19 he joined the Unity Theatre in Kings Cross. Five years later he wrote a letter to Michael MacLiammoir, the Irish theatre impressario who ran Dublin's Gate Theatre. It was accompanied by a CV describing a rich and wholly imaginary theatre career – and he was taken on.

Gambon made his professional stage debut in the Gate Theatre's 1962 production of Othello, playing "2nd Gentleman". In 1963, he was chosen by Sir Laurence Olivier to be part of the original Royal National Theatre company, alongside Maggie Smith, Nicol Williamson and newcomers including Lynn Redgrave. The company initially performed at the Old Vic, their first production being Hamlet, directed by Olivier and starring Peter O'Toole. He played for four years in many NT productions, including Much Ado About Nothing, and Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, working with guest directors including Noel Coward and Franco Zeffirelli.

[edit] Success and acceptance

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. As a result, Gambon was asked by James Bond producer Cubby Broccoli to audition for the role in 1970, to replace George Lazenby. However, his craggy looks soon made him into a character actor, and it was not until Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective (1986) that he became a household name. Even after this success, for which he won a BAFTA, his includes films such as The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover which also starred Helen Mirren.

In 1992 he played a psychotic general in the Barry Levinson film Toys and he also starred as Georges Simenon's detective Inspector Jules Maigret in an ITV adaptation of Simenon's series of books. He starred as Fyodor Dostoyevsky in the Hungarian director Károly Makk's movie The Gambler (1997) about the writing of Dostoyevsky's novella The Gambler.

[edit] Today

In recent years, films such as Dancing at Lughnasa (1998) and Plunkett and Macleane (1998), 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) have revealed a talent for comedy. In 2004, he appeared in five films, including Wes Anderson's quirky comedy The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou; the British gangster flick Layer Cake; theatrical drama Being Julia; and CGI action fantasy Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Perhaps his most significant role in 2004, however, was Albus Dumbledore, Hogwart's headmaster in the third installment of JK Rowling's franchise, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, taking over from fellow Irish actor Richard Harris, who had died of Hodgkins disease. (Harris had also played Maigret on television four years before Gambon took that role.) Gambon reprised the role of Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which was released in November 2005 in the UK and U.S.. He will return to the role again in the fifth movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, to be released in 2007. Gambon admits to not having read the Harry Potter novels, so he is not "upset" when a significant story change occurs in the conversion to film.

Most recently, he was Joe in Beckett's Eh Joe, giving two performances a night at the Duke of York's Theatre in London. He currently does the voice over to the new Guinness ads with the penguins.

[edit] Personal life

Gambon married Anne Miller when he was 22, but has always been secretive about his personal life, responding to one interviewer's question about her: "What wife?" The couple lived together in a country house near Gravesend in Kent, where potter Anne has her workshop. Gambon was knighted in 1998 for services to theatre and his wife became Lady Gambon. The couple have a son, Fergus, who appears as an expert on the BBC's Antiques Roadshow.

While filming Gosford Park, released in 2001 and co-starring Charles Dance and Maggie Smith, Gambon brought Philippa Hart on to the set and introduced her to co-stars as his girlfriend. When the affair was revealed in 2002, he moved out of the marital home, but rather than moving in with his lover, he bought himself a bachelor pad. Philippa, who worked with Gambon on the film Sylvia in 2003, in late 2006 moved into a £500,000 terraced home in Chiswick, West London with her pet pug dog. Gambon and Philippa often lunch with restaurant critic A. A. Gill, writer Nicola Formby and Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson.

In February 2007, it was revealed that Philippa was pregnant with Gambon's child, and was due to give birth in May 2007^[2]

[edit] Boredom and the Press

Gambon has said he finds interviews boring, and has throughout his career made numerous false statements to journalists. He claimed to have started out as a dancer at the Royal Ballet, only to have his career ruined when he fell from the stage and crashed through the orchestra's kettledrum. For years he carried round a photo of Robert De Niro that read "To Mike, Best wishes and love forever, Bob". He'd regale any entrant to his dressing-room with tales of the work he'd done with De Niro and the affection they had for one another - until some bright spark noted that Gambon had actually never worked with De Niro and clearly written the note himself. Gambon finally appeared on-screen with De Niro in 2006's The Good Shepherd. He once claimed that he used to be gay, but stopped because it made his eyes water - the journalist believed him and wrote this into their article. He has joked about being challenged by Johnny Depp to mention Claudia Schiffer's knickers in every interview; on his second appearance on Top Gear, he mentioned that he makes up things mainly through boredom.

[edit] Transport

A qualified amateur pilot, his love of cars led to his appearance on the BBC's Top Gear programme. Gambon raced the Suzuki Liana he was driving so aggressively that it was launched into the air on the last corner of his timed lap. The final corner of the Dunsfold Park track has been named "Gambon" in his honour. He reappeared on the programme on the June 4, 2006, and set a time in the Chevrolet Lacetti of 1:50.3, a significant improvement on his previous time of 1:55.

[edit] Partial filmography

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
• Amazing Grace (2006)
• The Good Shepherd (2006)
• The Omen (2006)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
• Layer Cake (2004)
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
• Being Julia (2004)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
• Angels in America (2003)
• Sylvia (2003)
• Open Range (2003)
• The Lost Prince (2003) (TV)
• Path to War (2002)
• Ali G Indahouse (2002)
• Christmas Carol: The Movie (2001) (voice)
• Gosford Park (2001)
• Perfect Strangers (2001) (TV)
• Sleepy Hollow (1999)
• The Insider (1999)
• Wives and Daughters (1999) (TV)
• Dancing at Lughnasa (1998)
• Mary Reilly (1996)
• The Browning Version (1994)
• Toys (1992)
• Mobsters (1991)
• The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
• A Dry White Season (1989)
• The Rachel Papers (1989)
• The Singing Detective (1986)
• The Beast must Die (1974)
• Nothing But The Night (1972)
• Othello (1965)

[edit] Quotations

• "It was like a heartbeat. Something inside me. Some dream. I think it's being a dreamer as a child. Dreamy kids become actors, don't they?" Michael Gambon on his experience of joining and working with the Unity Theatre in Kings Cross

[edit] References

1. ^ Michael Gambon biography on tiscali
2. ^ http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/tm_headline=mumbledore-%2D-gambon-to-be-dad-at-66%26method=full%26objectid=18672285%26siteid=62484-name_page.html

[edit] External links

• Michael Gambon at the Internet Movie Database
• Michael Gambon at Yahoo! Movies
• Biography at Tiscali UK