Dominic West has said that hearing Sir Michael Gambon in his head when he read lines for a part encouraged him to take it.
The Crown actor, 54, is set to star in a Theatre Royal Bath production of Arthur Miller’s A View From The Bridge alongside Kate Fleetwood and Callum Scott Howells.
West takes on the role of Italian-American everyman Eddie Carbone, who Sir Michael played in a 1987 National Theatre production.
He told BBC One’s The Graham Norton Show: “It was the end of The Crown, we (TV and film actors) were on strike, and I wanted to do something.
“Michael Gambon had just died and the memory of him doing it was seminal. When I read the lines, I could hear him. It’s a big part, a great part.”
Sir Michael, who died aged 82 in September, was known for portraying Albus Dumbledore in six of the eight films in the Harry Potter movie series.
He also starred alongside West in The Gambler, a 1990s film adaptation of a Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s story of the same name.
Also appearing on this week’s The Graham Norton Show is former Coronation Street actress Michelle Keegan, Game Of Thrones actor Jacob Anderson and comedian Alan Carr.
British actor Anderson recalled making an admission about his driving skills on the production of the TV series adaption of Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire while he starred as Louis de Pointe du Lac.
Anderson said: “We filmed in New Orleans and they closed the streets.
“One night I had to drive five blocks through the French Quarter in a 1920s car and when we finished the scene, I told them I didn’t have a driving licence.”
He also said he did not do a 1920s version of the Louisiana Creole accent during Interview With The Vampire as it was “strange and slow”, and instead opted for how people from US city New Orleans sound now.
Keegan said that Netflix thriller Fool Me Once being number one on the streaming giant’s platform is “madness” as she spoke about working with Dame Joanna Lumley.
She said: “It was so much fun and we laughed the whole way through.
“There were a lot of F-bombs dropped in the show, but I just couldn’t bring myself to swear at her (Dame Joanna) in rehearsal.
“I was just so embarrassed to say the word.
American singer-songwriter Teddy Swims, real name Jaten Collin Dimsdale, also performed live in the studio.
The Graham Norton Show airs on BBC One on Friday at 10.40pm.