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When I was a little kid, I thought Gandalf and Dumbledore were the same person, meaning I didn’t just think the same actor played them, I thought they were the same wizard. Well, I quickly figured out that I was wrong, and I also swiftly fell in love with Ian McKellen’s Lord of the Rings istar and Michael Gambon’s take on Hogwarts’ Headmaster. However, it turns out I wasn’t the only one who confused the fantasy characters, because McKellen hilariously explained how he and Gambon dealt with the frequent mix-ups from fans.
Let me set the scene for these hilarious comments from McKellen. He was doing an interview with Magic Radio, and he mentioned that on his way to this radio spot, he saw himself on a bus. He said he didn’t think he’d ever seen himself on the side of a bus before, but the interviewer couldn’t quite believe that – especially considering his prominent roles in the casts of Lord of the Rings and X-Men. This led the actor to explain that when the Harry Potter movies came out, people thought he was on the side of busses, but it was really the late great Michael Gambon:
There was a time when they were making the Harry Potter movies and with each movie, they made Dumbledore, Mike Gambon, look more and more like Gandalf. By the last movie, it was Gandalf up there on the busses. And I said, ‘Well, I might have been in a film I didn’t know I’d made.’
In Sir Ian McKellen and I’s defense, on the surface it’s easy to mistake Gandalf and Dumbledore. They’re both wizards in fantasy projects that are regarded as some of the best movies of the 2000s, they both wear robes of the grey and white variety, they both have long gray hair, and they’re both extremely wise and regal.
They also serve similar purposes in their respective franchises. In the Harry Potter movies, Dumbledore is Harry and the students’ advisor and guardian. In the Lord of the Rings films, Gandalf helps Frodo, the Fellowship and the beings of Middle-earth in the same kind of way, by being a wise protector.
However, while the switch-up is understandable (and the 8-year-old version of myself is 100% guilty of it), both Gambon and McKellen deserve (and have received) acclaim and praise for their respective and different performances.
Luckily, though, when these mistakes happen, they both are funny about it, as McKellen described how Gambon would act when someone asked him to sign an image of Gandalf:
I once asked Gambon did he ever get mistaken for me? He said ‘Oh, the whole time.’ I said ‘What did you do?’ He said, ‘Oh, they bring me their wretched photos of Gandalf, and I just sign your name.’
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♬ original sound – Magic Radio
So, if you have a signed photo of Gandalf you might want to reassess who you met that day, because it might have been Michael Gambon. However, either way, that meet-up is a win.
If there’s anything to take away from this, it’s how remarkable both these men were as their wizards. The Harry Potter movies feature some of Gambon’s finest work, and McKellen and his take on Gandalf are so beloved, that people want him to come back for the upcoming Gollum movie, which he’s down to do if he’s able.
To go back and see these fine fellows playing legendary wizards, you can stream both the Harry Potter films and all the Lord of the Rings movies with a Max subscription. Just make sure you always remember that even though they look similar, Michael Gambon played Gandalf and Ian McKellen is Gandalf!