The Harry Potter franchise is one we have grown up with. From the world of witches and wizards, we found magic that made us believe in the impossible. But it wasn’t just Harry, and by extension Ron and Hermione that fans fell in love with, but the whole new world and the people in it.
One character that is loved by many in the fandom is that of the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore. In the first two movies of the franchise, the character is played by the late Richard Harris. Unfortunately, Harris passed away in 2002 and left a gaping hall in the creative world. For the rest of the movies, Michael Gambon took over to deliver a stunning performance. But it was quite a difficult process to recast the character.
Richard Harris Made It Almost Impossible To Recast Dumbledore
The late actor Richard Harris started as the loveable Professor Dumbledore in Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) and The Chamber of Secrets (2002). Unfortunately, the British actor passed away before the second movie was released due to Hodgkin’s disease in August 2002. But as revealed by the director of the first two movies, Chris Columbus, the late actor did not want to leave the character behind and have someone else play Dumbledore.
Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Columbus spoke of Richard Harris, saying:
He said, ‘If you ever replace me, I’ll fucking kill you.’ I said, ‘I don’t even know why you’re thinking that way. I’ll see you a couple of weeks.’
Unfortunately, the actor passed away soon after, leaving a hole in the wizarding world.
About 10 days later, I got home from editing Chamber of Secrets, and I saw on the news that he had passed away. It was stunning and heartbreaking, and a total shock.
The gap that Harris left was too big, and the director and the producers were scrambling to find someone good enough to replace a personality like him. The shoes were too big to fill, and given how loved Harris had become with the character, it was very difficult to recast after his loss.
Dumbledore Faced a Few Rejections Before Michael Gambon Took Over
It was another British legend, Michael Gambon, who took on the role of Dumbledore after the passing of Richard Harris. But it was a while before the character reached him, and even then, there was some hesitancy. But before the fandom found their second Headmaster, the role was offered to a few other greats.
From Peter O’Toole to Sean Connery to Christopher Lee, quite a few names were suggested to take over the role. Another Hollywood legend, Ian McKellen was even offered the role, even if it wasn’t specifically mentioned. But he refused to take it on, given some comments Harris had once made about McKellen and a few other colleagues of his. The LOTR fame told BBC:
I couldn’t take over the part from an actor who I’d known didn’t approve of me.
Harris had once called Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi, and Kenneth Branagh, “technically brilliant, but passionless” actors. Something that did not sit well with McKellen. Thus, the X-Men actor did not think it was right of him to take on a role that was once played by Harris. Finally, Michael Gambon came on to join the join the franchise, and remained in it till the end.
The Harry Potter movie series is available for streaming on Max.
