Yes, We KNOW He's Played Other Roles...

I dissmiss his Dumbledore because it's just poor next to Harris' Dumbledore.

The films are great and he's good in them - but Harris nailed it and Gambon just doesn't feel right.

You're correct in your assessment of the character - but Gambon doesn't bring any of that to the role and very rarely did I find myself captivated by his performance.

To me, he's the weakest link in the series - I don't think he's bad, I just feel he'll always be the second best version of the character, (third if you include the books).

Now, Rickman on the other hand, (who like Gambon has a lot of "why no love for other movies" threads on his board also), is the living version of the character, different enough from the book to make it his own yet still conveying the same self-loathing and jealousy.

Imagine if he had been replaced by say Jeremy Irons, (I've Die Hard on the brain for some reason today) - Irons is a superb actor, but you'd always compare what he did to Rickman.

Bottom line - Gambon is a great actor who is at best mediocre in the HP movies but astonishingly good in others

What's wrong with wanting to point that out?

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Yeah I understand that, I wasn't talking about comparing him to other HP actors, I was talking about people who don't watch Harry Potter AT ALL and then act like HP fans don't have the right to discuss his portrayal of Dumbledore on this board.

Because his "other performances" have more depth and range than some fictional fantasy character from a children's book AND it's rather annoying to see multiple threads criticizing his portrayal of this supporting character. Dumbledore isn't some iconic film character. Gambon took the role because Richard Harris DIED. Get it? He's DEAD, and the role wasn't taken away from him, nor does Gambon owe Richard Harris anything for portraying Dumbledore in his own way.

On the same note, those same posters who complain about this really have no appreciation for Richard Harris' work BEFORE Dumbledore, and it shows when they put some much effort extolling this role in HP but have nothing to say about his past work.

It's almost as silly as reading fans of Sir Alec Guinness criticizing Ewan MacGregor's portrayal as a young Obi Wan Kenobi but not appreciating Alec's previous body of work, which he was actually more proud of than his role in Star Wars.



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The reaction to HP fans who flooded Gambon's board started when he took over the role. There were literally dozens of threads lambasting Gambon's performance as an insult to Richard Harris' memory AND that Gambon didn't know what he was doing with the role of your "complex character".

I've read the HP series and while I enjoyed it I very much consider it a children's book (10-16 year olds). You can believe that Dumbledore has complex motivations all you want, but apparently many HP fans think Gambon FAILED at this portrayal. I guess your top post is a sly way of defending the Dumbledore character while downplaying Gambon's work as an actor. Your brief mention of The Singing Detective doesn't really convey to me that you support him as an actor, plus the fact that your thread covers the very subject you're complaining about.



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I always think if Richard Harris going "oh NOOOOOOOO!" When he sang MacArthur's park. Man didnt know he could get those high notes.