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\nAll the headlines mention Dumbledore. and I get it. Fine. But Dumbledore Shmumbledore. Michael Gambon’s stage career was spectacular. He played everything (see him here as King Lear), and when I heard he passed, I thought immediately of a hilarious section in Antony Sher’s excellent book The Year of the King<\/a><\/em>, about Sher’s year of preparation to play Richard III. (I highly recommend the book if you haven’t read it.) There’s a great entry where Sher recounts meeting Michael Gambon in the RSC canteen. Gambon shares some anecdotes about auditioning for Laurence Olivier when Gambon was still a “nobody”, and Gambon’s “big break”. It’s unexpectedly moving. And also hilarious.<\/p>\n Tuesday 21 February<\/p>\n CANTEEN I\u2019m having my lunch when I hear a familiar hoarse shout, \u2018Oy Tony!\u2019 I whip round, damaged my neck further, to see Michael Gambon in the lunch queue \u2026<\/p>\n Alan Howard (a previous Richard III at the RSC) is standing in front of him, puzzled as to who is being sent up. Gambon tells me the story of Olivier auditioning him at the Old Vic in 1962. His audition speech was from Richard III. \u2018See, Tone, I was thick as two short planks then and I didn\u2019t know he\u2019d had a rather notable success in the part. I was just shitting myself about meeting the Great Man. He sussed how green I was and started farting around.\u2019 Olivier: \u2018What are you going to do for me?\u2019 Gambon went back to the engineering factory in Islington where he was working. At four that afternoon he was bent over his lathe, working as best as he could with a heavily bandaged hand, when he was called to the phone. It was the Old Vic.<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s not easy talking on the phone, Tone. One, there\u2019s the noise of the machinery. Two, I have to keep my voice down \u2019cause I\u2019m cockney at work and posh with theatre people. But they offer me a job, spear-carrying, starting immediately. I go back to my work-bench, heart beating in my chest, pack my tool-case, start to go. The foreman comes up, says, \u201cOy, where you off to?\u201d \u201cI\u2019ve got bad news,\u201d I say, \u201cI\u2019ve got to go.\u201d He says, \u201cWhy are you taking your tool box?\u201d I say, \u201cI can\u2019t tell you, it\u2019s very bad news, might need it.\u201d And I never went back there, Tone. Home on the bus, heart still thumping away. A whole new world ahead. We tend to forget what it felt like in the beginning.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Please read my friend Dan Callahan’s beautiful tribute<\/a> over on Ebert. <\/p>\n \n All the headlines mention Dumbledore. and I get it. Fine. But Dumbledore Shmumbledore. Michael Gambon’s stage career was spectacular. He played everything (see him here as King Lear), and when I heard he passed, I thought immediately of a hilarious … Continue reading
\nWonderful seeing Gambon again. He and Howard have been rehearsing a play here. They\u2019ve just heard it\u2019s been cancelled because of the scene-shifters\u2019 strike. Everyone assures us that it will be over by the time we go into studio in four weeks.<\/p>\n
\nAs reported by Gambon, their conversation went like this:<\/p>\n
\nGambon: \u2018Richard the Third.\u2019
\nOlivier: \u2018Is that so. Which part?\u2019
\nGambon: \u2018Richard the Third.\u2019
\nOlivier: \u2018Yes, but which part?\u2019
\nGambon: \u2018Richard the Third.\u2019
\nOlivier: \u2018Yes, I understand that, but which part?\u2019
\nGambon: \u2018Richard the Third.\u2019
\nOlivier: \u2018But which character? Catesby? Ratcliffe? Buckingham\u2019s a good part \u2026\u2019
\nGambon: \u2018Oh I see, beg your pardon, no, Richard the Third.\u2019
\nOlivier: \u2018What, the King? Richard?\u2019
\nGambon: \u2018 \u2014 the Third, yeah.\u2019
\nOlivier: \u201cYou\u2019ve got a fucking cheek, haven\u2019t you?\u2019
\nGambon: \u2018Beg your pardon?\u2019
\nOlivier: \u2018Never mind, which part are you going to do?\u2019
\nGambon: \u2018Richard the Third.\u2019
\nOlivier: \u2018Don\u2019t start that again. Which speech?\u2019
\nGambon: \u2018Oh I see, beg your pardon, \u201cWas every woman in this humour woo\u2019d.\u201d\u2018
\nOlivier: \u2018Right. Whenever you\u2019re ready.\u2019
\nGambon: \u2018 \u201cWas ever woman in this humour woo\u2019d \u2013\u201d \u2018
\nOlivier: \u2018Wait. Stop. You\u2019re too close. Go further away. I need to see the whole shape, get the full perspective.\u2019
\nGambon: \u2018Oh I see, beg your pardon \u2026\u2019 Gambon continues, \u2018So I go over to the far end of the room, Tone, thinking that I\u2019ve already made an almighty tit of myself, so how do I save the day? Well I see this pillar and I decide to swing round it and start the speech with a sort of dramatic punch. But as I do this my ring catches on a screw and half my sodding hand gets left behind. I think to myself, \u201cNow I mustn\u2019t let this throw me since he\u2019s already got me down as a bit of an arsehole\u201d, so I plough on \u2026 \u201cWas ever woman in this humour woo\u2019d \u2013\u201c\u2018
\nOlivier: \u2018Wait. Stop. What\u2019s the blood?\u2019
\nGambon: \u2018Nothing, nothing, just a little gash, I do beg your pardon \u2026\u2019
\nA nurse had to be called and he suffered the indignity of being given first aid with the greatest actor in the world passing the bandages. At last it was done.
\nGambon: \u2018Shall I start again?\u2019
\nOlivier: \u2018No. I think I\u2019ve got a fair idea how you\u2019re going to do it. You\u2019d better get along now. We\u2019ll let you know.\u2019<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/131277846_gambon-top-alamy-e1695918469394.jpg\")
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