J asper Rees’s authorised biography of Michael Gambon , published three years after the great actor’s death , has nuanced accounts of his performances in Shakespeare, Beckett and Pinter as well as The Singing Detective and the Harry Potter films. There are even chapters devoted to his hands (“the biggest you’ve ever seen on anybody” – Brian Cox) and similarly enormous feet. But, Gambon being Gambon, there are also dozens of accounts of tomfoolery on and off stage …

‘One of the funniest people I’ve ever met’

David Hare’s 1995 play Skylight is set in a draughty flat where a dish of spaghetti is cooked up on stage. Those kitchen cupboards proved useful for Lia Williams to hide when Gambon’s goofing got to her at the National Theatre . Gambon would adopt a different accent or speak in tongues during a scene and “when he made me laugh it was hell on Earth because there was nothing I could do about it” said Williams, who called him “one of the funniest people I’ve ever met”.…