J.K. Rowling honours late 'brilliant' Dumbledore actor Sir Michael Gambon

J.K. Rowling expressed her condolences over Sir Michael Gambon’s death, the actor for one of her most beloved Harry Potter characters.

Reacting to the “awful news,” the award-winning author took to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Thursday, a few hours after news of Gambon’s death broke.

“The first time I ever laid eyes on him was in King Lear, in 1982,” Rowling reminisced, referring to a performance of the Shakespearian play in which Gambon played the titular role, and “set the bar almost unreachably high,” according to Rowling in the comments.

“And if you’d told me then that brilliant actor would appear in anything I’d written, I’d have thought you were insane,” she gushed over Gambon, who joined the cast Rowling’s immensely successful franchise in 2004.

After further expressing her admiration for the “outstanding actor” who was an equally “wonderful man,” Rowling cherished the opportunity to work with Gambon on not only Potter but also The Casual Vacancy, her second publication after the Harry Potter series.

“My deepest condolences go to Michael’s family and everyone who loved him,” the 58-year-old fantasy author concluded her post.

Sir Michael Gambon passed away “peacefully” on 28 September due to pneumonia at the respectable age of 82, according to a public statement issued by his family on Thursday morning.

Primarily a British theater actor, Gambon gained international recognition after taking over the role of Albus Dumbledore in The Prisoner of Azkaban, succeeding late actor Richard Harris. 

Having carried the role for the next seven years, Gambon was beloved by his Harry Potter castmates, who paid their own tributes to the late actor, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint.