Richard Harris
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- This article is about Richard Harris the actor. For other uses, see Richard Harris (disambiguation).
| Richard Harris | |
 Richard Harris as Marcus Aurelius in Gladiator. |
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| Birth name | Richard St. John Harris |
| Born | October 1, 1930 Limerick, Ireland |
| Died | October 25, 2002 |
| Height | 6' 1" (1.85 m) |
| Notable roles | King Arthur in Camelot Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Rees-Williams Ann Turkel |
Richard St. John Harris (October 1, 1930 – October 25, 2002) was an Irish actor, singer and songwriter.
He was featured on stage and in many films, and was perhaps best known for the film role of King Arthur in Camelot (1967) and for the portrayal of Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He also played a British aristocrat and prisoner in A Man Called Horse (1970).
He was a notorious playboy and drinker, part of a rowdy generation of Irish and British actors that included Albert Finney, Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life and career
Harris was born in Limerick, Ireland, one of nine children of farmer Ivan Harris and Mildred Harris (nee 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 may have gone on to 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 London stage productions, starting with The Quare Fellow in 1956.
[edit] Career
Harris made his film debut in 1958 in the film Alive and Kicking. He had a memorable cameo 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 who becomes an acclaimed rugby league player. 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 US 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.
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 of 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.
[edit] Later career and Harry Potter
Late in his career, he acted in the Oscar-winning films Unforgiven and Gladiator (in the latter as Marcus Aurelius).
He gained a new generation of fans as Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films. He has come to be identified with this role by the new generation, much as Alec Guinness was for playing Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars films in the '70s (though like Guinness he professed strong dislike for the role)[citation needed].
In 2003, his voice could be heard as the character Opaz in the animated film Kaena: The Prophecy. The movie was also dedicated to him as he had died the previous year.
[edit] Personal life and death
In 1957, he married Elizabeth Rees-Williams, daughter of David Rees-Williams; they were divorced in 1969, and Elizabeth married another actor, Rex Harrison. 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).
Richard Harris married secondly the American actress Ann Turkel, who was 16 years his junior, but that marriage also ended in divorce.
He was a member of the Knights of Malta, and was also knighted by the predominantly Lutheran country of Denmark.
Harris died of Hodgkin's disease in 2002 at the age of 72, shortly before the U.S. premiere of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He was in a restaurant at the time and as he was carried out on a stretcher, informed the people queueing to go into the restaurant that it was the food that had killed him, retaining his sense of humour till the end. He would be replaced as Dumbledore by fellow Irish-born actor, Sir Michael Gambon.
[edit] Epilogue
In December 2005, Harris's bar opened in the new landmark Riverpoint building in Limerick. It was named in honour of the Limerick legend. A statue of Richard Harris is also said to be unveiled in Bedford Row in Limerick when the street that is currently being refurbished is completed in late 2006.
On the 30th September 2006, Manuel Di Lucia, Resident of Kilkee Co. Clare and long time friend, organised a Statue of Richard Harris to be unveiled in Kilkee, in memory of the summers that "Dickie" Harris used to spend in Kilkee playing back at the "Alleys" a game of Rackets. This monument has a different aspect of Richard and plays a roll in recording a small part of the history of the Life of "Dickie" Harris.
[edit] Academy Award Nominations
- 1964 - Best Actor in a Leading Role - This Sporting Life
- 1991 - Best Actor in a Leading Role - The Field
[edit] Grammy Nominations & Wins
[edit] 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
[edit] Wins
- Best Spoken Word Recording for Jonathon Livingston Seagull-1973
[edit] Trivia
Richard Harris often told stories about his haunted English Mansion. 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.[1]
Richard Harris spent the last six years of his life living in the Savoy Hotel. He was regularly seen in the Coal Hole, the nearest pub.
[edit] Filmography
- The Iron Harp (1959) (for TV) as Blind Irishman
- Alive and Kicking (1959) as Lover
- Shake Hands with the Devil (1959) as Terence O'Brien
- The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959) as Higgens
- The Long and the Short and the Tall (1960) titled Jungle Fighters (in USA) as Cpl. Johnstone
- A Terrible Beauty (1960) titled The Night Fighters (in USA) as Sean Reilly
- The Guns of Navarone (1961) as Squadron Leader Howard Barnsby RAAF
- Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) as Seaman John Mills
- This Sporting Life (1963) as Frank Machin
- Il Deserto Rosso (1964) titled The Red Desert (in UK) & Le Désert Rouge (in France) as Corrado Zeller
- The Heroes of Telemark (1965) as Knut Straud
- Major Dundee (1965) as Capt. Benjamin Tyreen
- The Bible (1966) titled The Bible... In the Beginning (in USA) & La Bibbia (in Italy) as Cain
- Hawaii (1966) as Rafer Hoxworth
- Caprice (1967) as Christopher White
- Camelot (1967) as King Arthur
- The Molly Maguires (1970) as Detective James McParlan/McKenna
- A Man Called Horse (1970) as John Morgan
- Cromwell (1970) as Oliver Cromwell
- Bloomfield (1971) titled The Hero (in USA) as Eitan
- The Snow Goose (1971) (TV) as Philip Rhayadar
- Man in the Wilderness (1971) as Zachary Bass
- The Deadly Trackers (1973) as Sheriff Sean Kilpatrick
- 99 and 44/100% Dead (1974) titled Call Harry Crown (in UK) as Harry Crown
- Juggernaut (1974) titled Terror On the Britannic (in USA) as Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Fallon
- Echoes of a Summer (1976) titled The Last Castle (in USA) as Eugene Striden
- Robin and Marian (1976) as King Richard
- The Return of a Man Called Horse (1976) as Lord John Morgan
- The Cassandra Crossing (1976) titled Treffpunkt Todesbrücke (in West Germany) as Dr. Jonathan Chamberlain
- Gulliver's Travels (1977) as Gulliver
- Orca (1977) also titled Orca: Killer Whale as Captain Nolan
- Golden Rendezvous (1977) titled Nuclear Terror (in USA on TV) as John Carter
- The Wild Geese (1978) as Capt. Rafer Janders
- Ravagers (1979) as Falk
- A Game for Vultures (1979) as David Swansey
- The Last Word (1980) titled The Number (in UK) as Danny Travis
- Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981) as James Parker
- Your Ticket Is No Longer Valid (1981) titled L' Ultime passion (in Canada: French title) as Jason
- Triumphs of a Man Called Horse (1982) titled El Triunfo de un hombre llamado Caballo (in Spain) as John Morgan
- Camelot (1982) (TV) as King Arthur
- Martin's Day (1984) as Martin Steckert
- Highpoint (1984) as Lewis Kinney
- Maigret (1988) (TV) as Jules Maigret
- Trappola diabolica (1988) titled Strike Commando 2 (when International: English title) as Vic Jenkins
- King of the Wind (1989) as King George II
- Mack the Knife (1990) also titled The Threepenny Opera as Mr. Peachum
- The Field (1990) as 'Bull' McCabe
- Patriot Games (1992) as Paddy O'Neil
- Unforgiven (1992) as English Bob
- Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993) as Frank
- Silent Tongue (1994) titled Le Gardien des esprits (in France) as Prescott Roe
- Abraham (1994) (TV) titled Die Bibel - Abraham (in Germany) & La Bible: Abraham (in France) as Abraham
- Cry, the Beloved Country (1995) as James Jarvis
- The Great Kandinsky (1995) (TV) as Ernest Kandinsky
- Trojan Eddie (1996) as John Power
- Savage Hearts (1997) as Sir Roger Foxley
- Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997) titled Fräulein Smillas Gespür für Schnee (in Germany) & Fröken Smillas känsla för snö (in Sweden) & Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne (in Denmark) as Dr. Andreas Tork
- The Hunchback (1997) (TV) titled The Hunchback of Notre Dame (in Europe: English title) as Dom Frollo
- This Is the Sea (1997) as Old Man Jacobs
- Upright Affair (1998)
- Sibirskiy tsiryulnik (1998) titled Сибирский цирюльник (literally Siberian Barber) (in Russia) & Le Barbier de Sibérie (in France) & Il Barbiere di Siberia (in Italy) & The Barber of Siberia (International: English title) as Douglas McCraken
- To Walk with Lions (1999) titled Un homme parmi les lions (in Canada: French title) as George Adamson
- Grizzly Falls (1999) as Old Harry
- Gladiator (2000) as Marcus Aurelius
- The Pearl (2001)
- My Kingdom (2001) as Sandeman
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) as Albus Dumbledore
- The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) titled Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo (in USA: complete title) as Abbé Faria
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) as Albus Dumbledore
- San Giovanni - L'apocalisse (2002) (TV) titled Die Bibel: Apokalypse (in Germany)& The Apocalypse (in USA) as John
- "Julius Caesar" (2002) (TV mini series) titled Caesar (in USA) & Giulio Cesare (in Italy) as Lucius Sulla
- Kaena: La prophétie (2003) (voice: English version) titled Kaena: The Prophecy (in USA) as Opaz
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Camelot (Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1967)
- A Tramp Shining (Spring 1968)
- The Yard Went On Forever (Fall 1968)
- My Boy (1971)
- Tommy (Performs One Song) (1971)
- The Richard Harris Love Album (1972)
- Slides (1972)
- The Richard Harris Love Album (1972)
- His Greatest Performances (1973)
- Jonathon 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)
[edit] 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)
[edit] 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)
- Tommy (1996)
- The Webb Sessions 1968-1969 (1996)
- MacArthur Park (1997)
- Slides/My Boy (2 CD Set) (2005)
