British-Irish actor Sir Michael Gambon, best known to global audiences for playing Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movie franchise, has died aged 82.

A statement by his family, issued by his publicist, said he died following “a bout of pneumonia”.

“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,” his family said.

An actor for more than 50 years, he took over playing Dumbledore for the third instalment of the eight-movie Potter series after replacing the late Richard Harris in 2004. 

Gambon played down the praise for his performance and said he simply played himself “with a stuck-on beard and a long robe”.

The Harry Potter franchise paid tribute to Gambon on X, saying it was “saddened” by the news. 

“He brought immeasurable joy to Harry Potter fans from all over the world with his humour, kindness and grace. We will forever hold his memory in our hearts.”

James Phelps, who played Fred Weasley in Harry Potter, said he would remember Gambon for his generosity. 

He shared a story on Instagram of a time when Gambon helped him rehearse a script while filming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. 

“He was, on and off the camera, a legend,” Phelps said on Instagram. 

“We spent what should have been his downtime going over my weekend gig. It’s a memory I’ve always had and one of the highlights of my HP days.” 

Gambon began his acting career on the stage in the early 1960s and later moved into TV and film. 

Notable film roles include a psychotic mob leader in Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover in 1989 and the elderly King George V in Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech in 2010.

Gambon left school aged 15 to begin an engineering apprenticeship and by 21 he was fully qualified.

However, he was also a member of an amateur theatre group and always knew he would act, he told The Herald newspaper in 2004.

In 1962, he auditioned for the great Shakespearean actor Laurence Olivier, who made him one of the founding members of the National Theatre at the Old Vic, alongside other young emerging greats that included Derek Jacobi and Maggie Smith.

Gambon built his reputation on the stage over the following years, making his name in particular with his 1980 portrayal of Galileo in John Dexter’s Life of Galileo.

The 1980s brought wider attention with the lead role in 1986 TV show The Singing Detective, in which he played a writer suffering from a debilitating skin condition whose imagination provided the only escape from his pain. The performance won him one of his four BAFTAs.

He also won three Olivier Awards and two ensemble cast Screen Actors Guild Awards — for 2001’s Gosford Park and The King’s Speech.

Gambon was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1992 and knighted for services to drama in 1998, something he called “a nice little present”, although he did not use the title.

A mischievous personality, he often made up stories. For years he showed fellow actors a signed photograph of Robert De Niro, which he had in fact inscribed himself before ever meeting the American actor.

He revealed in an episode of “The Late Late Show” in Ireland that he convinced his mother he was friends with the pope.

Gambon retired from the stage in 2015 after suffering long-term memory problems but continued to act on-screen until 2019. He told an interviewer in 2002 that his work made him feel “the luckiest man in the world”.

Gambon married Anne Miller in 1962, and the couple had a son. While they never divorced, in later years he also had another partner, set designer Philippa Hart, 25 years his junior, with whom he had two children.

Reuters/ AP