Daniel Radcliffe has claimed the late Michael Gambon "f**** around all the time" while filming the Harry Potter movies.

The 36-year-old actor shot to fame playing the boy wizard in JK Rowling's movie series and he always loved filming scenes with the veteran actor - who died in September 2023 aged 82 - as Albus Dumbledore because he never took the work too seriously and enjoyed trying to make his co-stars laugh.

Speaking on First We Feast's Hot Ones, Daniel said:"Michael Gambon, may he rest in peace, incredible man.

"He f***** around all the time. Like he would never stop until action had been said sometimes, he would try and make me laugh."

Daniel noted Michael - who took over the role of Dumbledore from third movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban following Richard Harris' death in 2002 - to work was very different to other actors.

He said: "Some actors like to like dress the whole process up in mystique and being an enigma.

"Michael Gambon, you'd get to set and he'd be like 'What's the shot?'

"And you'd be like, oh it's cameras here, Michael, so you're there in front of it but you're looking that way and he'd say, 'Oh what is this BOHNAR? I was like, 'Sorry what's that?' And he's like, 'Back of head, no acting required?' And it's like yes, yes, it is.

"When we were doing the sixth film [Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1], me and him were doing the final sequence and we were in this boat.

"I can't remember the details, but we're in this little boat going over to this island surrounded by bad stuff. And he'd be like, 'What's this, TTIAB?' I was like what? 'Two t**** in a boat?' "

Daniel noted Imelda Staunton - who played Dolores Umbridge - had a similar casual attitude between takes.

He said: "Imelda, same thing, not f****** around like Michael Gambon, but she would be chatting to everybody about anything, and then when action gets said, she's locked in and so good.

"It's the people who can do the work without making you constantly aware of how hard they're working are always the people that seemed the coolest."

The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins star recalled feeling very self-conscious filming Harry Potter in his late teens but he eventually realised he needed to embrace his "natural weirdness" to be a good performer.

He said: "You're in the most self-conscious phase of your life and I hated my face and it doing anything so I thought if I go stoic and don't really move my face, nothing can go wrong.

"And that came out of self-consciousness, and self-consciousness is the enemy of acting, in any shape or form.

"When I was doing my first musical, on Broadway, I learned very quickly that actually any natural weirdness I have, from my face or expression or physicality, you've got to lean into it... That's a big lesson."