Michael Gambon biography: a "brilliant actor and a master deceiver"

The Guardian has called Michael Gambon "a brilliant actor and a master deceiver" in its review of his authorised biography, Michael Gambon: The Authorised Biography, written by Jasper Rees. The book is due out on 29 October 2026. An authorised biography is one written with the co-operation of the subject's family, and this one draws on the archive kept by Gambon's wife, Anne.

Gambon died in 2023, aged 82, from pneumonia. The Times reported that he had suffered from dementia for several years before his death.

Rees's book covers a long career. Gambon made his professional acting debut in 1962, playing the Second Gentleman in Othello. The following year Laurence Olivier hired him for the National Theatre. The Guardian's review describes the book as tracing his life "from the National Theatre to Harry Potter", and says it leaves many questions unanswered.

The review also describes a man who bent the truth. Gambon, it reports, padded his CV with theatre experience when he applied for a job at Dublin's Gate theatre. On another occasion he told the National Theatre that his mother had died, to explain why he had arrived late to a rehearsal. The claim was false.

Some of the detail is lighter. Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, the producer behind the James Bond films, once called Gambon in for a chat about the role of 007. The review also notes that Gambon and Brian Cox worked together on a 1968 production of Othello, the same play that marked Gambon's debut.

Rees's sources are wide. He draws on more than 100 new interviews, including conversations with Eileen Atkins, Penelope Wilton, Brian Cox and Simon Russell Beale. The archive held by Anne Gambon gives the book its family material. Gambon was married to Anne for 61 years. The couple's sons include Fergus, who went with his parents to Buckingham Palace when Gambon was knighted in 1998. Gambon also had two sons with the set designer Philippa Hart.

The book is published by Century, a Penguin Random House imprint, which is one of the large publishing groups. The Bookseller, the trade magazine, reported in June 2025 that Century had won the rights in a five-way auction, meaning five publishers bid for the book before one was chosen. The hardback runs to 592 pages, with ISBN 9781529963335.

For readers who knew Gambon from the stage or from screen roles such as Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, the book offers a closer look at the man behind the parts. The review's headline sums up the tension the book is built around: a performer who was celebrated for his craft and, by the account given here, was also a skilled teller of tales about himself.