The Authorised Biography

Michael Gambon

*Available for Pre-order now * A major and definitive portrait of Sir Michael Gambon, one of the greatest actors of the last fifty years. 
Jasper Rees, the acclaimed Sunday Times bestselling author of Let’s Do It: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood, interviewed Gambon more than any other journalist alive. In this deeply personal, moving, and funny biography, Rees has been granted exclusive access to Gambon’s personal archive and effects. Rees has interviewed over one hundred actors, playwrights and directors who, over a career that spanned more than half a century, witnessed some of Gambon’s most magnificent performances. With touching accounts from Penelope Wilton, Alan Ayckbourn, Brian Cox, Eileen Atkins, David Hare, Judi Dench, Christopher Hampton, Simon Russell Beale, Richard Eyre, Patricia Hodge, Simon Callow, Stephen Poliakoff and his closest friend in theatre, Oliver Cotton. 
 
The biography spans Gambon’s epoch-defining roles on stage, television and screen: the early years as a spear-carrier in Laurence Olivier’s newly formed National Theatre, his pre-eminence as an interpreter of Harold Pinter and Alan Ayckbourn, the triumphs in The Life of Galileo and A View from the Bridge, and the screen roles that won him global fame, from Philip Marlow in The Singing Detective to Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films. Both heart-warming and surprising, this is a book that enriches our understanding of an acting legend who was as hilarious and elusive off stage – renowned for spinning mischievously tall tales – as he was mesmerising and chameleon-like on stage. _______________________________________________________________ 
Praise for Sir Michael Gambon: 
‘Michael Gambon was one of the most brilliant, effortless actors I’ve ever had the privilege of working with, but despite his immense talent, the thing I will remember most about him is how much fun he had doing his job’ – Daniel Radcliffe 
‘Michael was a wonderful man in addition to being an outstanding actor, and I absolutely loved working with him, not only on Potter but also The Casual Vacancy. The first time I ever laid eyes on him was in King Lear, in 1982, and if you'd told me then that brilliant actor would appear in anything I'd written, I'd have thought you were insane’ – J.K. Rowling 
‘He was hugely amusing, and such a tremendous guest, we even named a corner after him’ – Jeremy Clarkson 
‘He was such a magnificent human being and the impact he had on my life – and that of many others – was profound’ – Daniel Craig

Press reviews for Jasper Rees's Let's Do It: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood

‘Let’s Do It is a biography that feels as unflinching and true as it is entertaining and affectionate. Rees pulls off the trick of writing a brilliant tribute while also – somehow, almost – bringing Victoria Wood back to life in all her complicated glory’

‘You can almost feel him riffling files, rewinding tapes, so carefully is it pieced together. Yet the reward is a 360-degree biography that transforms a beloved entertainer into a real human being’

‘This superb biography ensures we can’t forget how revolutionary she was’

‘Joyous and revealing... If you're a diehard Wood fan (as I am) you'll find this account of her life wholly engrossing, and it also stands as a wonderful tribute to a pioneering entertainer and her exacting comic genius’

‘A joy. It paints a rounded portrait of a genuinely nice and kind woman who could also be difficult, scathing, even ruthless’

‘Rees’s research is wide-ranging and detailed... his analysis is acute and often beautifully articulated’

‘Packed with enlightening anecdotes and revealing interviews with her family and closest friends. A real treat’

‘This biographer is the safest of hands... It does not feel intrusive because it is so richly fed with the memories of those who properly loved her’

Praise from friends and fans of Victoria Wood:

‘This utterly absorbing and beautiful book, written with such insight and kindness, moved me hugely’

‘I would love people to read this beautiful book about the woman I will be forever grateful for in leading the way for me and other women in comedy and for making my life a jollier one’

‘Jasper Rees has found the perfect words to convey Victoria's brilliance, in this meticulously researched, immersive and entertaining biography'

‘This book is absolutely brilliant. So meticulously researched but also full of warmth and fun’

A major and definitive portrait of Sir Michael Gambon, one of the greatest actors of the last fifty years. 
 
Jasper Rees, the acclaimed Sunday Times bestselling author of Let’s Do It: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood, interviewed Gambon more than any other journalist alive. In this deeply personal, moving, and funny biography, Rees has been granted exclusive access to Gambon’s personal archive and effects. Rees has interviewed over one hundred actors, playwrights and directors who, over a career that spanned more than half a century, witnessed some of Gambon’s most magnificent performances. With touching accounts from Penelope Wilton, Alan Ayckbourn, Brian Cox, Eileen Atkins, David Hare, Judi Dench, Christopher Hampton, Simon Russell Beale, Richard Eyre, Patricia Hodge, Simon Callow, Stephen Poliakoff and his closest friend in theatre, Oliver Cotton. 
 
The biography spans Gambon’s epoch-defining roles on stage, television and screen: the early years as a spear-carrier in Laurence Olivier’s newly formed National Theatre, his pre-eminence as an interpreter of Harold Pinter and Alan Ayckbourn, the triumphs in The Life of Galileo and A View from the Bridge, and the screen roles that won him global fame, from Philip Marlow in The Singing Detective to Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films. Both heart-warming and surprising, this is a book that enriches our understanding of an acting legend who was as hilarious and elusive off stage – renowned for spinning mischievously tall tales – as he was mesmerising and chameleon-like on stage.

Jasper Rees is an arts journalist and author who has written for the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Times and theartsdesk.com, which he co-founded. His previous books include I Found My Horn and Bred of Heaven, both of which were abridged for Radio 4, and a biography of Florence Foster Jenkins. In 2020, Rees published Let’s Do It: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood, which was written with the full cooperation of her family, friends and colleagues, and became a Sunday Times bestseller. He has also edited Victoria Wood Unseen on TV: Sketches, Songs, Stand-up and Other Rarities, and wrote and presented ‘Loose Chippings’, an episode of Archive on 4 featuring unheard audio from Victoria Wood’s archive. 
 
About Sir Michael Gambon 
 
Michael Gambon, born in Dublin in 1940, began acting in amateur theatre before joining Laurence Olivier’s newly launched National Theatre in 1963. His first television lead was in The Borderers in 1968, while theatrical success came in The Norman Conquests in 1974, which inaugurated a long collaboration with Alan Ayckbourn. The first of many appearances in the work of Harold Pinter came in Betrayal in 1978. The Life of Galileo in 1980 established him as a theatrical heavyweight and the great performances followed: King Lear, A View from the Bridge, Volpone, David Hare’s Skylight. His face was truly launched on television in Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective in 1986. He went on to star in Maigret, then for three successive years won BAFTAs for his performances in Wives and Daughters, Longitude and Stephen Poliakoff’s Perfect Strangers. In cinema, he had his first lead role in Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. Belated recognition from Hollywood came with a scene-stealing cameo in Michael Mann’s The Insider, which led on to Gosford Park and the role of Dumbledore, bringing a new generation of fans. The final phase of his stage career brought major performances in the plays of Samuel Beckett. His last lead role on screen was in Churchill’s Secret in 2016. Michael Gambon was made a CBE in 1990 and knighted in 1998. He died in 2023.

Jasper Rees, the acclaimed Sunday Times bestselling author of Let’s Do It: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood, interviewed Gambon more than any other journalist alive, and has been granted exclusive access to Gambon’s personal archive and effects. Rees is in the process of conducting over one hundred interviews with actors, playwrights and directors who across a career that spanned more than half a century were witness to some of Gambon’s most magnificent performances, including Penelope Wilton, Alan Ayckbourn, Brian Cox, Eileen Atkins, David Hare, Judi Dench, Christopher Hampton, Simon Russell Beale, Richard Eyre, Patricia Hodge, Simon Callow, Stephen Poliakoff and his closest friend in theatre, Oliver Cotton. 
 
The biography spans Gambon’s epoch-defining roles on stage, television and screen: the early years as a spear-carrier in Laurence Olivier’s newly formed National Theatre, his pre-eminence as an interpreter of Harold Pinter and Alan Ayckbourn, the triumphs in The Life of Galileo and A View from the Bridge, the screen roles that won him global fame, from Philip Marlow in The Singing Detective to Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films. It promises to be a deeply personal, moving and surprising book that will enrich our understanding of an acting legend who was as hilarious and elusive off stage – renowned for spinning mischievously tall tales – as he was mesmerising and chameleon-like on stage.

Jasper Rees

In late 1911, the final year of the Edwardian age, a British naval captain and a Norwegian conqueror of the North-West Passage embarked on the most gruelling race ever run. Their aim was not only to lead the first expedition to the South Pole, but also to live to tell the tale. Six months later, Robert Falcon Scott and four of his party were dead, while Roald Amundsens victory had been wired around the world.    A century on, the debate still rages. Was Scott unfortunate or incompetent? Was Amundsen a genius or lucky? In a unique television experiment, two teams led by the Norwegian explorer Rune Gjeldnes and the television anthropologist Bruce Parry, star of the BBC2 series Tribe, set out to recreate the famous race. Wearing the same type of clothing as their predecessors, surviving on the same diet, using the same equipment and travelling over the same distance, they seek to answer some of the burning questions.    Blizzard is a dramatic chronicle of both the original epic, and its reconstruction. Jasper Reess narrative skilfully intertwines past and present as he brings to life an extraordinary cast of characters. They may be separated from their predecessors by nearly a hundred years, but the modern race teams soon discover that, in polar travel, nothing changes. Among the hardships they face are uncontrollable dogs, inedible food, invisible crevasses, unimaginable cold, all in an unending prairie of snow.    Incorporating the gripping diaries of Parry and Gjeldnes, Blizzard paints an astonishing picture of comradeship in the face of physical danger and psychological torment in the most life-threatening habitat on earth.

Jasper Rees

Books by Jasper Rees

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