Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is undoubtedly one of the most beloved characters in the entire Harry Potter canon, so the legendary movie series based on J.K. Rowling’s books faced an enormous challenge when it was forced to recast the all-important role partway through its run. After original actor Richard Harris passed away, Sir Michael Gambon was brought aboard as the Hogwarts headmaster, bringing his own energy and charisma to the part.
On Sep. 28, Gambon himself passed away at the age of 82 — 10 years older exactly than when his predecessor Harris died. The world has lost one of the finest thespians of his generation, one who was part of Laurence Olivier’s original acting troupe at the Royal National Theatre, and the Harry Potter universe has lost another of its most popular performers. But when exactly did Gambon replace Harris as Dumbledore?
Michael Gambon starred in 75% of the Harry Potter movies
Richard Harris died on Oct. 25, 2002 from Hodgkin’s disease, less than a month prior to the theatrical premiere of his final film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Harris had been determined to fight his illness and reprise his role in the third movie; when producer David Heyman visited him in hospital, Harris asked him not to recast. Sadly, this became unavoidable following his passing. After the hiring of director Alfonso Cuarón, Gambon was hired as the new Dumbledore four months later.
Gambon made his first appearance as Albus in May 2004’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and went on to continue the role throughout the remaining six films in the saga, as based on the final five books. Although Dumbledore famously dies at the end of 2009’s The Half-Blood Prince, Gambon had a minor cameo as the character’s corpse in 2010’s The Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and then returned for a dream/afterlife sequence in 2011’s The Deathly Hallows – Part 2.
Jude Law later took over as a younger Albus in 2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, returning to match Harris’ number of appearances in 2022’s Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. With the future of this prequel series cloudy, and with Max working on a TV reboot of the franchise, Gambon looks set to remain the actor to play Dumbledore the most times on film for a long time to come.