Dumbledore and Richard Harris (Commentary)

Before I see the third film I'd like to mention my take on the casting of Richard Harris as Dumbledore. First let's get it out of the way: he was an exceptional actor and I wish he hadn't died. But in hindsight I feel he was miscast. I can hear a billion Harry Potter fans grab their chests in pain but he was not the best actor for the role. I never really thought he looked the part and I hated his breathy delivery. I've read he was ill during production which makes me realize the producers probably knew he wouldn't make it to the next film. Still you can't fire the guy but its very noticeable that he's struggling a bit. If he was filming the sixth film this would have been great but I realize that's morbid. In someways its good that he was in these first films before the story takes a darker turn. We can think of him as the Dumbledore the "kiddie" versions of Harry and friends meet. His soft voiced gentleness would never have worked for the later films. It's a shame in so many ways. One that he's the only actor replaced in the franchise and two that he's in the two bad ones. I hate it when a great actor's last work almost insults their legend. Here that is certainly the case.