Michael Gambon

Sir Michael John Gambon CBE (born 19 October 1940) is an Irish-English actor. Having trained under Laurence Olivier, he started his career on stage at the Royal National Theatre. Gambon is known for portraying Professor Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter film series from 2004 to 2011.

Having started his career on the theatre with Olivier with the National Theatre Company at the Old Vic, Gambon appeared in many productions of works by William Shakespeare such as Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth and Coriolanus. Gambon has been nominated for thirteen Olivier Awards for his work on the London stage. He won three awards including for his performance as Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge in 1987. He also won for his performances in Alan Ayckbourn's plays A Chorus of Disapproval and Man of the Moment. For his work on the Broadway stage he went on to receive a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play for his performance as Tom Sergeant in David Hare's Skylight in 1997. He also received a Drama Desk Award, and Olivier Award nomination. In 2013, Gambon took part in the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the National Theatre.

Gambon made his film debut in Othello (1965) alongside Laurence Olivier and Maggie Smith. Gambon's other films include Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), Iain Softley's The Wings of the Dove (1997), Michael Mann's The Insider (1999), Robert Altman's Gosford Park (2001), Michael Apted's Amazing Grace (2006), Tom Hooper's The King's Speech (2010), Dustin Hoffman's Quartet (2012), and Stephen Frears' Victoria & Abdul (2017). Gambon has also appeared in the Wes Anderson films The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). He is known for his performances in television programmes such as The Singing Detective (1986), Wives and Daughters (1999), Path to War (2002), Cranford (2007), Emma (2009), The Casual Vacancy (2015), Churchill's Secret (2016), and Little Women (2017).

Gambon was knighted in 1998 for services to drama. He has received four BAFTA TV Awards, three Olivier Awards (a thirteen-time nominee), and the 2017 Irish Film & Television Academy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, he was listed at No. 28 on The Irish Times' list of Ireland's greatest film actors. He retired from stage acting in 2015 due to memory loss, but continues to act on screen.

The INTP personality type is intellectually curious and enjoys the more complex and theoretical problems, often for their own sake. Practical application has little interest for them, preferring to identify the solutions and then leave someone else to plan the work. They do however like things done properly and have very high standards. The routine, the detail bores them rigid and they will put off completing tasks, especially those that they see as unnecessary, preferring to 'blitz' them nearer the deadline. For the INTP follow-through does not come naturally, and completion will be via huge bursts of energy at the last minute but it will be done.

INTPs are extremely independent, of thought and action, and will value trait that in others. They can play the team game, but then prefer to go and get on with it, working in sporadic bursts of energy. Although quite deep and private, the INTP can at times seem totally outspoken because of their directness of communication and economy of words. The INTP is blunt, to the point and would not be easily side-tracked. Other people may assume that the INTP says very little, but this is only when there is nothing to say. General chitchat or conversations with no purpose will bore them so they prefer to speak only about areas that interest them, things they consider important. There is an expedient side to the INTP character, and this means they will focus on their own interests and will immerse themselves in such activities. Their boredom threshold is low and once the activity becomes mundane, maintenance or about follow-through, the INTP will once again disappear into their own world of ideas, possibilities and the complex.

They do however dislike sloppy work or sloppy thinking or illogical arguments or poor enunciation. They are flexible, do not like to be fenced in but have very high standards. INTPs are cynical individuals, (they prefer to call themselves ‘realists!’), intensely logical, analytical and detached, they believe solely in the power of logic, finding it difficult to express or even to ‘do’ emotions. Rarely intimidated the INTP will work through even the most apparently momentous problems with the same logical demeanour and furrowed brow that they would display when doing Sudoku. Any problem is simply a problem and it will have a logical answer. Try and flatter an INTP and they will become very suspicious. Give an INTP a compliment and they’ll think, ‘what’s s/he after!’ They are very good at evaluating, seeing the flaws in any argument or the downside in any situation and their cup is always half empty, never half full.

INTPs are thoughtful, analytical characters. They may disappear so deeply into thought as to seem detached, and often actually are oblivious to the world around them, and the people in it. Precise, formal and proper, INTPs will often correct others should any shade of meaning be even slightly ambiguous. They may not want to do ‘it,’ but if it must be done then it should, indeed must, be done properly, according to agreed protocols, the INTP protocols.

The INTP is so independent of thought and in vehemently arguing a point they may very well be trying to convince themselves as much as the opposition. Getting to the heart of 'the truth' is extremely important to the INTP but will be as far as they will probably want to take it. Knowing ‘the truth,’ knowing they can back it up with logic is enough for them and they do not feel any need to prove it or to go further and demonstrate it to other people, indeed that would not be the INTP way.

Knowing they are right is all the INTP needs and then they can turn their thoughts privately to other logical, and interesting, activities. One INTP friend will only have lunch if it means sitting down with a ‘proper’ knife and fork, with ‘proper’ being the key word for him, obsessed with the ‘right’ ways of doing things and ‘right’ can be defined as what the INTP has concluded after much logical deliberation.