Michael Gambon, actor responsible for playing Albus Dumbledore in the “Harry Potter” films, passed away this Thursday morning, 28, in England, at the age of 82. His death was announced by his wife, Lady Gambon, and his son Fergus, through a note.
Gambon was the second actor to play the memorable Hogwarts headmaster, giving life to the character from “The Prisoner of Azkaban”, in 2004, until the last film, “Deathly Hallows – Part 2”, in 2011. Before him, Dumbledore was played by the Irish actor, theater director, singer, composer and writer, Richard Harriswho passed away before the release of the second feature film due to lymphatic cancer.
The two stars had the responsibility of bringing to life one of the most important and complex characters in the book franchise, who even has a name with a peculiar meaning, as reported by the website DitoCinema.
But what does Dumbledore mean?
Jean-François MénardFrench translator of the saga, explained in an interview with publisher Gallimard Jeunesse that, contrary to what some might imagine, J.K. Rowling, the creator of this universe, would not have named Dumbledore just by chance. According to him, “Dumbledore” comes from an 1886 novel, by Thomas Hardytitled “The Mayor of Casterbridge”, and would mean bee in an Old English dialect.
“In Hardy’s book, [há] a female character who lives in the countryside and who uses somewhat local words. This greatly angers her father, who believes she could speak in a more civilized way. And ‘dumbledore’ is the word adopted in certain regions of the United Kingdom — already in Hardy’s time — as a variant of ‘bumblebee’, which means ‘bumblebee’,” said Jean.
For him, the character Dumbledore would be for Rowling “the bumblebee that goes from flower to flower, that is always alert, that always flutters everywhere, that is, a very lively character, that is interested in everything”.
Source: Recreio
