Michael Gambon may have been known for playing sage Headmaster Professor Dumbledore but, in real life, the late actor was quite a character in his own right. Based on the loving tributes the Harry Potter cast shared about Gambon, the Irish actor was incredibly fun and quite the “trickster.” Co-star Tom Felton could vouch for that, as he spoke about the time Gambon hilariously messed with him while filming Dumbledore’s memorable death scene.
It’s since been revealed that Tom Felton’s favorite Harry Potter movie is Half-Blood Prince, which puts his character, Draco Malfoy, in a tough spot. In it, Draco is threatened into killing Dumbledore on behalf of Voldemort. Draco’s attempts at using magic to off the Hogwarts headmaster, failed several times. And, as Felton explained on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, he was having a hard time himself behind the scenes:
We had a scene together and it’s Draco killing Dumbledore. It’s a big one. But I didn’t really think about anything like that too much until I got on set that day. There’s only a handful of lines. It wasn’t a particularly long thing to have to like, learn but, for some reason, because everyone was there on set that day, I must have bumbled my way through the first three attempts of saying my line.
I can imagine how frustrating that must have been for Felton. Not only did he have to deliver that bit of dialogue, but he also had to deliver it before a revered actor, Gambon. As Felton went on to explain, he missed the line a few more times, and then it was his co-star who made a request:
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The first three I sort of messed up and got them almost um, grammatically wrong, but also back to front. He asked for a tea break, which no one says no to. So Michael Gambon or Dumbledore rather, and he had a big long beard in the film, but he also had a cloak that went round it to sort of protect the beard for when he went out for a [makes a smoking gesture] breath of fresh air. Sure. And he invited me out for a breath of fresh air. And I said, ‘Okay, okay.’ Which of course, I went out and just apologized profusely. I said, ‘I’m sorry, sir.’
Aw, I can really relate to that, and not so much specifically from an acting standpoint. There’s a firm chance many of us can probably relate to being in the position of wanting to please someone, especially when we’re a kid trying to please an adult.
Had I been in Tom Felton’s shoes, I likely would’ve been aiming to apologize to my co-stars for holding up the shoot. Ultimately, though, Michael Gambon had a humorously genius way of changing his young co-star’s perspective:
He never liked to be called Sir Michael. But Mickey G, he’d stare at me as if he was pissed off. Uh for a second I’d say, ‘I’m sorry. I promise you I’ve rehearsed the lines. I’ve done everything I possibly can do to like just give me a couple more takes.’ You know, an apologetic 17-year-old desperately trying to keep up with the world’s finest actors is not a great place to be. He offers you a cigarette…. And then says, ‘Dear boy, do you have any idea how much they pay me per day to be here? If you keep effing it up at this rate, tomorrow I’ll have a new Ferrari.’
Okay, that made me crack up! Those comments firmly illustrate exactly the kind of humor that Michael Gambon possessed, and I love it. I can only imagine actually being on set whenever he dropped a gem like that one. If anything, Gambon — an alumni of the Royal National Theatre with 60 years worth of fine performances under his belt — didn’t take himself too seriously. And it seems the three-time Olivier Award recipient taught Felton a serious lesson:
And I took it deadly seriously before I realized that this man is taking the piss, and he cares as much as…. just relax, man. Have some fun. And next take, that’s the one they used.
It’s no secret that Michael Gambon was a class clown on the Harry Potter set. Daniel Radcliffe spoke about how Gambon messed around on set “all the time” and came up with hilarious acronyms during the boat scene in Half-Blood Prince. There was even a time when Gambon pranked Radcliffe with a farting machine during Prisoner of Azkaban. I love that even one of the most esteemed actors of stage and screen could be so silly.
Considering how intense Dumbledore’s death scene is, it’s wild to imagine some level of hilarity ensuing behind the scenes. I’m definitely going to watch that scene a lot differently now, but what will remain the same is my sheer love of Michael Gambon’s work. You can see Tom Felton and Gambon bring their A-game in Half-Blood Prince by streaming the film with an HBO Max subscription or a Peacock subscription.