Daniel Radcliffe shared a few never-before-scene photos from his Harry Potter days on Monday night. The actor appeared on the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are?, where he reflected on his family and his background. For the first time in years, fans saw Radcliffe with the signature bowl-cut hair of The Boy Who Lived.
Radcliffe brought along some childhood photos to the filming of Who Do You Think You Are?, a show where celebrities explore their personal histories. In one fan-favorite picture — published by The Daily Mail — Radcliffe was pictured wearing a Gryffindor t-shirt, holding one dog in his arms with another sitting beside him on the couch.
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Radcliffe was reportedly 13 years old at the time, and picture was taken at his home in Fulham, a neighborhood in south-west London, England. The dogs were well-known to die-hard Harry Potter fans at the time — Radcliffe’s beloved border terriers Binka and Nugget.
The actor was just a couple of years into his tenure as the Chosen One of the wizarding world at the time. He began the role at the age of 11 — the same age as his character — but over the years production times widened the age gap between Radcliffe and Harry. During the filming of the last movie, Radcliffe was just shy of 21 years old, while Harry was supposed to be 17.
In the course of the show, one of the most shocking stories from Radcliffe’s family history was that of his great-grandfather, Samuel Gershon, who died by suicide after being robbed and facing bankruptcy. Radcliffe was reportedly shown Gershon’s suicide note, as well as callous police reports blaming his Jewish faith for the robbery.
“Jews are so frequently responsible for the bringing down of their own business premises,” a document read. Radcliffe was heartbroken over the story, saying that he wished he could reach back in time and communicate with Gershon.
“You want to reach into the past and just go: ‘Whatever you’re going through, you have so much to offer the people who are around you still… you have so much to give to them. And they still would all have loved you.”
Radcliffe has faced demons of his own over the years. Just this year, he opened up about how he turned to alcohol to cope with the pressures of fame.
“In my case, the quickest way of forgetting about the fact that you were being watched was to get very drunk and then as you get very drunk, you become aware that, oh people are watching more now because now I’m getting very drunk, so I should probably drink more to ignore that more,” he told Sam Jones in an interview for the Off Camera podcast.
Right now, Radcliffe’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? is not available to stream in the U.S., but previous seasons are on YouTube, Amazon Prime and other services.
