Harry Potter Reunion Reveals The Perfect Dumbledore Actor Story

The Harry Potter reunion reveals swathes of nostalgic behind-the-scenes footage, but by far the most touching is Return To Hogwarts‘ perfect Dumbledore actor story. Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return To Hogwarts brings back many familiar faces as the franchise’s principal actors fondly recall their time on set, including the Golden Trio of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson. Return To Hogwarts also offers a fitting tribute to the Wizarding World actors who have sadly died since filming ended, including the film franchise’s first Albus Dumbledore: Richard Harris.

The legendary Harris plays the Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore in both Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets, with his sage advice guiding a young Harry through his earliest trials as a wizard. In particular, Dumbledore’s prescience seen in The Chamber Of Secrets allows Harry to defeat the Basilisk hiding beneath Hogwarts by sending Harry both the Sorting Hat and his pet phoenix Fawkes as aid. While many creatures in The Chamber Of Secrets (including the Basilisk itself) were entirely CG’d, Fawkes was often represented by an animatronic version of the bird, allowing the film’s actors a greater range of interaction with a physical phoenix.

The best Harry Potter reunion reveal is Radcliffe and The Chamber Of Secrets director Chris Columbus’ story regarding Richard Harris and Fawkes the phoenix. In Return To Hogwarts, Radcliffe and Columbus hilariously share that Harris mistook the animatronic phoenix for a real creature, remarking at its supposed quality of training. Neither the effects team, cast, nor Columbus could bring themselves to tell the impressed Harris that the phoenix was fake, resulting in Harris believing he and Fawkes had real chemistry.

Midway through the Return To Hogwarts reunion, Radcliffe and Columbus sit down in the set of Hogwarts’ great hall to discuss their time working together on the first two films in the Harry Potter franchise. Columbus fondly recalls, “We had an animatronic version of Fawkes the phoenix, and it was this big red bird that doesn’t exist in real life, and Richard [Harris] came in and looked at the phoenix and said ‘wow they train these animals marvelously these days.” Radcliffe (in voice-over) then expands on the story, stating: “They had a camera inside the eye, so they could see Richard looking at it, and then they were like ‘well we don’t want to break the spell, so we’ll just keep the bird reacting and moving,’ and that, of course, got into a cycle where Richard was like ‘the bird is responding to me.” The pair then dissolve into giggles as Daniel Radcliffe puts the icing on the cake by stating, “We never told him.”

While a hilarious standalone anecdote, this Dumbledore story also serves as a poignant reminder of the best qualities of the legendary Richard Harris himself. Convinced to take the role of the Hogwarts headmaster by his then-eleven-year-old granddaughter, Harris lent a sense of wonder to the character of Dumbledore that is perfectly encapsulated by his readiness to believe a real phoenix was his co-star on set. The Harry Potter reunion is a wonderful, emotional return to the Wizarding World that gives many new insights into a beloved franchise, but the best of the bunch is undoubtedly Richard Harris’ perfect Dumbledore story.

About The Author