What is Michael Gambon known for? Michael Gambon dies at 82 — he played Dumbledore in ‘Harry Potter’ Gambon was best known for playing Albus Dumbledore in most of the Harry Potter movies. The Irish-born actor got his start on stage and worked under Laurence Olivier. Actor Michael Gambon, known for playing Professor Albus Dumbledore in multiple “Harry Potter” movies has died, his family said in a statement Thursday. He was 82. “We are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael Gambon,” said the statement issued on behalf of his wife, Anne, and son Fergus by publicist Clair Dobbs. It added that he “died peacefully in hospital,” following a bout of pneumonia with the pair at his bedside. “We ask that you respect our privacy at this painful time and thank you for your messages of support and love,” the statement added. Born Oct. 19, 1940, in Dublin to a seamstress mother and an engineer father, Gambon left school at 15 and seven years later he qualified as an engineer having completed his apprenticeship. But the lure of the stage, inspired by a local theater group, proved too strong and he began to tread the boards professionally in the early 1960s. In 1962, legendary Shakespearean actor Laurence Olivier made him one of the founding members of the National Theatre at London’s Old Vic, alongside other emerging greats including Derek Jacobi and Maggie Smith. As Gambon built his reputation on stage, roles on TV and movies followed including the lead role in 1986’s widely acclaimed “The Singing Detective” in which he played a writer suffering from a debilitating skin condition whose imagination provided the only escape from his pain. It would make him a household name in Britain. Other notable roles included a psychotic mob leader in “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover” in 1989, the elderly King George V in “The King’s Speech” in 2010 and Lord Salisbury in 2017’s “Victoria & Abdul.” He also had parts in director Wes Anderson comedy films 2004’s “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou” and 2009’s “Fantastic Mr Fox.”