Which character in the Harry Potter movies has been played by both Richard Harris and Michael Gambon?

Answer 1

Now that I have finished shovelling out from the 48 cm snowstorm we had on Friday that virtually shut down our city, I can get back to answering your questions.

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore (1845-1997) is a fictional character in the Harry Potter series of books by J.K. Rowling. Dumbledore is the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for most of the series.

Dumbledore is described as tall and thin, with long silver hair and a long beard. He has blue eyes, a very long and crooked nose (looking as if it had been broken at least twice) and long fingers. He wears half-moon spectacles. He once claimed to have a scar above his left knee, its provenance unknown, in the shape of a map of the London Underground.

Considered the most powerful wizard in the world, Dumbledore is benevolent and eccentric, an archetypal good wizard in the style of Merlin. It is said that he was the only wizard Lord Voldemort ever feared.

In the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Dumbledore was played by Richard Harris, who died in 2002 of Hodgkin's disease. Michael Gambon took on the role in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), and is filming for the role in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix which is under production for release in 2007.

Patrick McGoohan was originally offered the role for the first movie before Harris, but turned it down due to health reasons. All three actors are Irish. It is unknown if there is a reason for this, but it is possibly just a coincidence.

Richard St. John Harris (October 1, 1930 – October 25, 2002) was an Irish actor, singer and songwriter.

He was featured on stage and in many films, and was perhaps best known for the film role of King Arthur in Camelot (1967) and for the portrayal of Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He also played a British aristocrat and prisoner in A Man Called Horse (1970).

He was a notorious playboy and drinker, part of a rowdy generation of Irish and British actors that included Albert Finney, Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole.

In 1957, he married Elizabeth Rees-Williams, daughter of David Rees-Williams; they were divorced in 1969, and Elizabeth married another actor, Rex Harrison. Their three children are actor Jared Harris, actor Jamie Harris (born Tudor St. John Harris, but known as Jamie since childhood), and director Damian Harris (who has a son named Marlowe, born 2002, with Australian actress Peta Wilson).

Richard Harris married secondly the American actress Ann Turkel, who was 16 years his junior, but that marriage also ended in divorce.

He was a member of the Knights of Malta, and was also knighted by the predominantly Lutheran country of Denmark in 1985.

Harris died of Hodgkin's disease in 2002 at the age of 72, shortly before the U.S. premiere of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He was in a restaurant at the time and as he was carried out on a stretcher, informed the people queueing to go into the restaurant that it was not the food that had killed him, retaining his sense of humour till the end. He would be replaced as Dumbledore by fellow Irish-born actor, Sir Michael Gambon.

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

Perhaps his most significant role in 2004, however, was Albus Dumbledore, Hogwart's headmaster in the third instalment of JK Rowling's franchise, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, taking over from 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.

Answer 2

Michael Gambon In 2002, was named the successor to the late Richard Harris as Professor Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series. His Potter debut will be in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Answer 3

I adore Richard Harris!! He's has a much gentler, wiser, "silent-fury" approach to the character. Very approachable, yet if you cross the line, he won't hestitate to bust you up :) Gambon obviously wanted to make Dumbledore his own, but I think his physicality especially is too frenetic for Dumbledore. The books always characterize him as having a stillness, which I think Gambon did not take into account. Not to mention, I think there is a complete lack of chemistry b/t Radcliffe and Gambon, which is imperative in the next movie.

Answer 4

Professor Dumbledore

Answer 5

Dumbledore was much better with Richard Harris. Costuming AND acting.

Answer 6

Professor Albus Dumbeldore

Answer 7

Dumbledore.

Answer 8

Proffesor Albus Dumbledore

I think the 1st one was best though, the perfect image of Dumbledore.

Answer 9

Dumbledore...its so sad that Richard Harris dies....:(

Answer 10

I don't Know Cause I Don't Love This movie