He retired from the stage in 2015

Gambon enjoyed an illustrious career into his later years and his achievements included reaching his professional goal to play Falstaff in both parts of the Shakespeare epic ‘Henry V’ at the National Theatre in 2004.

In 2015, he announced he had taken his final bow on stage after he needed to be fed his lines on stage via an earpiece.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Michael said: "After about an hour I thought, 'This can't work. You can't be in theatre, free on stage shouting and screaming and running around, with someone reading you your lines.'

"It's a horrible thing to admit but I can't do it. It breaks my heart."