‘I laughed so hard my Tampax fell out’: Michael Gambon’s pranks revealed by the stars he cracked up

He made Daniel Radcliffe’s Harry Potter fart, left Judi Dench unable to control herself and told a fry-up fantasy about Helen Mirren. A new biography details the star’s mischief

Jasper 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 …