Happy Birthday Kenneth Branagh!

Harry Potter star Kenneth Branagh celebrates 60th birthday

Today we celebrate the man who filled the elegant cloak of one Gilderoy Lockhart in the second Harry Potter movie, as Kenneth Branagh turns 60!

Branagh has been nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Actor for his work on 1989’s Henry V, and the most recent being Best Supporting Actor in 2011’s My Week with Marilyn.

His turn as Lockhart was a welcome addition to the second film, as he channeled the narcissistic Defense Against the Dark Arts professor perfectly. The ability to embody the grandiose charade Lockhart puts on in the beginning as well as the ruthless, true man Lockhart really is as he, Harry, and Ron are stuck in the Chamber, is the perfect example of the strengths Branagh possesses as an actor.

With the prowess to bring this character to life so effectively, it was a shame that he was not able to reprise the role in Order of the Phoenix, as the character made a cameo appearance in the book when the Golden Trio made a stop at St. Mungo’s.

Branagh has recently been a mainstay in Christopher Nolan’s films, portraying a Navy Captain in Dunkirk and most recently the antagonist in this year’s Tenet. 2020 hasn’t been an easy one for Branagh though, as he was the director of Artemis Fowl, which saw its release be delayed and then sent to Disney+.

We wish one of Hogwarts most outlandish Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers a happy 60th birthday, and hope to see him capture an Academy Award sooner rather than later! What’s your favorite Kenneth Branagh moment??