Michael Gambon Biography (2)

Sir Michael Gambon started his career with the Edwards/MacLiammor Gate Theatre in Dublin. In 1963, he became one of the original members of the National Theatre Company at the Old Vic, under Laurence Olivier. Mr. Gambon appeared there in many plays before leaving to join Birmingham Rep, where he played Othello. Also in repertory, he played the title roles in Shakespeare's Macbeth, Coriolanus, and Othello (the latter this time at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough).

His West End stage work includes Simon Gray's Otherwise Engaged; the London premieres of three plays by Alan Ayckbourn: The Norman Conquests, Just Between Ourselves, and Man of the Moment; Alice's Boys (with Ralph Richardson); Harold Pinter's Old Times; and the title role in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. With the Royal Shakespeare Company, Mr. Gambon played leading roles in premieres of Harold Pinter's Betrayal and Mountain Language; Simon Gray's Close of Play; Christopher Hampton's Tales from Hollywood; and three more plays by Alan Ayckbourn: Sisterly Feelings, A Chorus of Disapproval (for which Mr. Gambon won an Olivier Award), and A Small Family Business. He has also starred in Shakespeare's Richard III, Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge (which transferred to the Aldwych, and for which he won all the major drama awards in 1987), and Ben Jonson's Volpone (for which he received the Evening Standard Theater Award as Best Actor).

Mr. Gambon opened in David Hare's Skylight at the Royal National Theatre in 1995, before transferring to Wyndham's Theatre, and then, in 1997, to New York's Royale Theatre (marking his Broadway debut). His recent U.K. stage appearances include Yasmina Reza's The Unexpected Man, Nicholas Wright's Cressida (directed by Nicholas Hytner), and Caryl Churchill's A Number (starring opposite fellow Sylvia actor Daniel Craig, under the direction of Stephen Daldry). The latter brought him an Olivier Award nomination.

His work on U.K. television includes the title role in Dennis Potter's miniseries The Singing Detective (directed by Jon Amiel), for which he won awards from BAFTA, the Broadcasting Press Guild, and the Royal Television Society; and, more recently, the miniseries Wives and Daughters (adapted from Elizabeth Gaskell's novel and directed by Nicholas Renton).

For U.S. television, Mr. Gambon has starred in John Frankenheimer's HBO feature Path to War (as U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson) and in Mike

Nichols' highly anticipated HBO miniseries Angels in America (based on Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning play).

His films include David Hare's Paris by Night, Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, Mike Figgis' The Browning Version (1994), Suri Krishnamma's A Man of No Importance, Nicolas Roeg's Two Deaths, Stephen Frears' Mary Reilly, Iain Softley's The Wings of the Dove, Thaddeus O'Sullivan's Nothing Personal, Pat O'Connor's Dancing at Lughnasa, Karoly Makk's The Gambler, Michael Mann's The Insider, Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, Deborah Warner's The Last September, Conor McPherson's The Actors as well as his filmization of Samuel Beckett's Endgame, Gillian Armstrong's Charlotte Gray, Robert Altman's award-winning Gosford Park, and Kevin Costner's Open Range.

Mr. Gambon will next be seen on-screen in the globally anticipated Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, directed by Alfonso Cuáron. He will be playing the role of Professor Albus Dumbledore, which was originated by his late friend Richard Harris.

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