and kenneth branagh. i was in good company.id, these guys are technically brilliant but passionless. yes. nonsense. when he died, he played dumbledore, the wiza rd. i played the real wizard! you're in a different franchise, shall we say! but when they called me up and said, would i be interested in being in the harry potterfilms, they did not say what part. i worked out what they were thinking and i couldn't. i could not take over the part from an actor who i knew did not approve of me. interesting. you could have been dumbledore? sometimes, when i see the posters of michael gambon, who plays dumbledore, i think, sometime, it's me! we get asked for each other‘s autograph. we have to get to the wizards. gandalf became you, you became gandalf. it was an extraordinary bonding of character and actor. you chose, not so long ago, that when you finally leave this mortal coil, your gravestone will simply say, played gandalf, came out. here lies gandalf. yes, that would do, wouldn't it? it is the two sides of my life which have meant a

charlie: here's kenneth on this kenneth branagh on this program talking about the timelessness of "hamlet central thing that i'm trying to achieve here in asking why shakespeare and also looking at all of these plays is looking at different actors who play the particular roles, whether it is "hamlet" or "lear" and not say this is better than that, but say this is the genius and great joy of theater. you can see different people with different life experiences bring something different to bear to something that was the same. kenneth: i agree with that wholeheartedly. that is why i'd never feel how -- feel the last bit proprietor etorial.- propri how could i possibly about any of the plays and films i have made? you never listen to a favorite song once. it is a favorite song because you listen to it again. it's going to strike you differently. you never listen to a beethoven symphony once. i could see "hamlet" for the rest of my life with different actors because something in the play will respond uniquely to what that actor gives, uniquely to the time, circumstances and the audience it pla