Richard Harris

For other people named Richard Harris, see Richard Harris (disambiguation).

Richard Harris
Born	Richard St. John Harris
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Rees-Williams (1957-1969) Ann Turkel (1974-1982)

Richard St. John Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Academy Award-nominated and Grammy Award-winning Irish actor, singer and songwriter. He appeared on stage and in many films, and is perhaps best known for his roles as King Arthur in Camelot (1967), as Oliver Cromwell in Cromwell (1970) and for his portrayal of Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), his last film. He also played a British aristocrat and prisoner in A Man Called Horse (1970).

Biography

Early life and career

Harris was born in Limerick, Ireland, one of nine children of farmer Ivan Harris and Mildred (née Harty). He was schooled by the Jesuits at Crescent College. A talented rugby player, he was on several Munster Junior and Senior Cup teams for Crescent, and played for the well-respected Garryowen club. He might have become a provincial or international-standard rugby player, but his athletic career was cut short when he contracted tuberculosis in his teens. He remained an ardent fan of Munster provincial rugby team until his death, attending many matches, and there are numerous stories of japes at rugby matches with fellow actors and rugby fans Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton.

After recovering from the disease he moved to London, wanting to become a director. He could not find any suitable courses and enrolled in the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) to learn acting. While still a student, Harris rented the tiny "off-West End" Irving Theatre, and directed his own production of the Clifford Odets play Winter Journey (The Country Girl). The show was a critical success, but a financial failure, and Harris lost all his savings on the venture.

As a result, he ended up temporarily homeless, sleeping in a coal cellar for six weeks. After completing his studies at the Academy, Harris joined Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop. He began getting roles in West End theatre productions, starting with The Quare Fellow in 1956, a transfer from the Theatre Workshop.

Career

Harris made his film debut in 1958 in the film Alive and Kicking. He had a memorable bit part in The Guns of Navarone as an Australian air force pilot who reports that blowing up the "bloody guns" of the title is impossible by air. For his role in Mutiny on the Bounty, despite being virtually unknown, he insisted on third billing, behind Trevor Howard and Marlon Brando.

His first star turn was in the 1963 film This Sporting Life, as a bitter young coal miner, Frank Machin, who becomes an acclaimed rugby league footballer. For his role as Frank Machin, Harris won the 1963 award for best actor at the Cannes Film Festival. He also won acclaim and notice for his leading role (with Charlton Heston) in Sam Peckinpah's famous "lost masterpiece" Major Dundee (1965), as an Irish immigrant turned Confederate cavalryman during the American Civil War.

He appeared as King Arthur in the film adaptation of Camelot (in which he was cast despite his limited singing range, just like Richard Burton), and proceeded to appear on stage in that role for years. He recorded several albums, one ("A Tramp Shining") included the seven-minute hit song written by Jimmy Webb, "MacArthur Park" (which Harris mispronounced as "MacArthur's Park"); that song reached #2 on the United States Billboard magazine pop chart, while topping several charts in Europe, in the summer of 1968. A second all-Webb composed album, "The Yard Went on Forever", was released in 1969. He also wrote one of the songs, There are Too Many Saviours on My Cross, considered to be a criticism of the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.

Some memorable performances followed, among them a role as a reluctant police informer in The Molly Maguires (1970) alongside Sean Connery. In 1971 he starred in the film Man in the Wilderness and in the low-budget Orca in 1977. Harris achieved a form of cult status for his role as mercenary tactician Rafer Janders in the 1978 film The Wild Geese. Also, in 1973, Harris wrote a highly acclaimed book of poetry, titled I, In The Membership Of My Days which was later released in record format with him reciting his poems.

By the end of the 1980s, Harris had gone a long time without a significant film role. He was familiar with the stage plays of fellow Irishman John B. Keane, and had heard that one of them, The Field, was being adapted for film by director Jim Sheridan. Sheridan was working with actor Ray McAnally on the adaptation, intending to feature McAnally in the lead role (Bull McCabe). When McAnally died suddenly during initial preparations for the film, Harris began a concerted campaign to be cast as McCabe. This campaign eventually succeeded, and the film version of The Field (which also starred Tom Berenger) was released in 1990. Harris earned an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal.

Later career and Harry Potter

Later in his career, Harris appeared in two Oscar-winning films, first as gunman "English Bob" in the 1992 western, Unforgiven, as well as portraying Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius in Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000).

Harris initially declined the offer to play Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, not wanting to commit to subsequent sequels. Upon learning that he had turned down the role, his granddaughter convinced him that he was "going to do it." He played the role of Headmaster Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter film adaptations, but died before filming commenced on the third movie.

In a 2001 interview with the Toronto Star, Harris expressed his fear that his association with the Harry Potter films would outshine the rest of his career, stating: "Because, you see, I don't just want to be remembered for being in those bloody films, and I'm afraid that's what going to happen to me."

In the 2002 re-make of The Count of Monte Cristo, Harris performed as the book's fictionalized character of Abbé Faria, the jailed priest and former Napoleonic soldier who instructs Dantès in language, science, and combat, and provides him a treasure map.

In 2003, his voice could be heard as the character Opaz in the animated film Kaena: The Prophecy. The movie was dedicated to him as he had died the previous year.

Personal life and death

In 1957, he married Elizabeth Rees-Williams, daughter of David Rees-Williams. Their three children are actor Jared Harris, actor Jamie Harris (born Tudor St. John Harris, but known as Jamie since childhood), and director Damian Harris (who has a son named Marlowe, born 2002, with Australian actress Peta Wilson). Harris and Rees-Willams were divorced in 1969, and Elizabeth married another actor, Rex Harrison.

Harris' second marriage was to American actress Ann Turkel, who was 16 years his junior; that marriage also ended in divorce. He was a member of the Knights of Malta, despite his divorces, and was also knighted by Denmark in 1985. He was reportedly good friends with Peter O'Toole. His family reportedly hoped O'Toole would replace Harris as Dumbledore in Harry Potter And The Prisoner of Azkaban.

Harris often told stories about his haunted English Mansion, The Tower House, which was sold later to Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame. According to Harris, the tower was haunted by an eight-year-old boy who had been buried in the tower. The boy often kept Harris awake at night until he one day built a nursery for the boy to play in, which calmed the disturbances to some extent.

Harris died of Hodgkin's disease on October 25, 2002 at the age of 72, two and a half weeks before the U.S. premiere of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He was replaced as Dumbledore by fellow Irish-born actor Michael Gambon.

Whenever he was in London, Harris lived at the Savoy Hotel. According to hotel archivist Susan Scott, when he was being taken from the hotel on a stretcher, shortly before his death, he warned diners, 'It was the food!'

Memorials

A statue in Kilkee, Republic of Ireland, of the young Richard Harris playing racquets

On September 30, 2006, Manuel Di Lucia, of Kilkee, County Clare and long time friend, organized a bronze lifesize statue of Richard Harris at age eighteen playing the game of raquets to be unveiled in Kilkee. The sculptor was Seamus Connolly.

Another statue of Harris has been erected in his home town of Limerick.

Academy Award nominations

• 1964 - Best Actor in a Leading Role - This Sporting Life
• 1991 - Best Actor in a Leading Role - The Field

Grammy nominations & wins

Nominations

• Album Of The Year for A Tramp Shining-1968
• Contemporary Pop Male Vocalist for MacArthur Park-1968
• Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama Recording for The Prophet-1975

Wins

• Best Spoken Word Recording for Jonathan Livingston Seagull-1973

Filmography

Further information: Richard Harris filmography

Discography

Albums

• Camelot (Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1967)
• A Tramp Shining (Spring 1968)
• The Yard Went On Forever (Fall 1968)
• My Boy (1971)
• The Richard Harris Love Album (1972)
• Slides (1972)
• His Greatest Performances (1973)
• Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973)
• The Prophet (1974)
• I, In The Membership Of My Days (1974)
• Camelot (Original 1982 London Cast Soundtrack) (1982)
• Mack The Knife (Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1989)

Singles

• Here In My Heart (Song from "This Sporting Life") (1963)
• MacArthur Park (1968)
• One Of The Nicer Things (1969)
• What A Lot Of Flowers (1969)
• Fill The World With Love (1969)
• Ballad Of "A Man Called Horse" (1970)
• Morning Of The Mourning For Another Kennedy (1970)
• Go To The Mirror (From "Tommy" Album) (1971)
• Turning Back The Pages (1972)
• Half Of Every Dream (1972)
• Trilogy (Love, Marriage, Children) (Song From "The Prophet" Album) (1974)
• The Last Castle (Theme From "Echoes Of A Summer") (1976)
• Lilliput (Theme From "Gulliver's Travels") (1977)

Compact disc releases & compilations

• Camelot (Original 1982 London Cast Soundtrack) (1988)
• Mack The Knife (Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1989)
• Camelot (Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1993)
• A Tramp Shining (1993)
• The Prophet (1995)
• The Webb Sessions 1968-1969 (1996)
• MacArthur Park (1997)
• Slides/My Boy (2 CD Set) (2005)

See also

• List of people on stamps of Ireland

External links

• Richard Harris at IMDb
• Richard Harris discography at MusicBrainz
• Harris' Bar Limerick: A Bar in Limerick City Dedicated to Richard
• The Richard Harris Club Association
• The Round Table, The Richard Harris Fansite

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