Gambon met Hart in 2000 on the set of the television drama Longitude. He was 60; she was 35. Rather than conducting an illicit affair behind closed doors, Gambon chose an unusual path. He introduced Hart openly on film sets, including during the production of Gosford Park, and established a secondary residence with her in a West London townhouse.
The arrangement coexisted with his long-standing marriage to Lady Anne, a retired mathematician and ceramicist whom he wed in 1962. Anne remained at their Grade II-listed country mansion in Gravesend, Kent. Gambon split his weeks between the rural estate in Kent and the suburban buzz of Chiswick and Mortlake with Hart. Over time, Hart gave birth to two sons, Tom in 2007 and Will in 2009.
Colleagues on major film sets accepted the balance without controversy. Friends reported that while the initial disclosure caused immense strain within his marriage, Anne ultimately chose not to file for divorce. That refusal to legally sever the marriage proved decisive decades later.
