Sir Michael Gambon ends stage career due to memory loss

Sir Michael Gambon has revealed that he has ended his stage career because he now struggles to remember his lines.

The 74-year-old actor, who is best known as Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, told The Sunday Times that he cannot act on stage again due to problems with his memory.

"It's a horrible thing to admit but I can't do it. It breaks my heart," he said, before adding that he used an earpiece which connected him to a stage prompt.

Gambon explained that it was while auditioning for a new West End play that he realised he could not continue to work in theatre, as he was relying on a member of the production staff to read him his lines.

"After about an hour I thought, 'This can't work. You can't be in theatre, free on stage shouting and screaming and running around, with someone reading you your lines'."

Gambon said that he has struggled with his memory for years. It was the reason he withdrew from the 2009 National Theatre production of The Habit of Art.

Gambon is currently starring in Sky Atlantic drama Fortitude, and will be seen in the BBC One adaptation of JK Rowling's novel The Casual Vacancy.