Biography
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 School (now Crescent College) and Sacred Heart Jesuit 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.
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.
Harris made his film debut in 1958 in the film Alive and Kicking. 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 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 of which included the seven-minute hit song "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.
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. In 1971, he starred in the film, Man in the Wilderness, and in the low-budget Orca in 1977.
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.
Harris as Albus Dumbledore.
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. 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 passed away the previous year.
He was a member of the Knights of Malta, and was also unexpectedly knighted by the predominantly Lutheran country of Denmark.
Harris died of Hodgkin's disease in 2002 at the age of 72, weeks before the second Harry Potter film was released. He would be replaced as Dumbledore by fellow Irish-born actor, Sir Michael Gambon.
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. Also the Jesuit Church in the Crescent in Limerick which is slated to be closed in 2006 is rumoured to be transformed into a Richard Harris museum.
Academy Award Nominations
1964 - Best Actor in a Leading Role - This Sporting Life
1991 - Best Actor in a Leading Role - The Field
Filmography
The Iron Harp (1959) (for TV)
Alive and Kicking (1959)
Shake Hands with the Devil (1959)
The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959)
The Long and the Short and the Tall (1960) titled Jungle Fighters (in USA)
A Terrible Beauty (1960) titled The Night Fighters (in USA)
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
This Sporting Life (1963)
Il Deserto Rosso (1964) titled The Red Desert (in UK) & Le Désert Rouge (in France)
The Heroes of Telemark (1965)
Major Dundee (1965)
The Bible (1966) titled The Bible... In the Beginning (in USA) & La Bibbia (in Italy)
Hawaii (1966)
Caprice (1967)
Camelot (1967)
The Molly Maguires (1970)
A Man Called Horse (1970)
Cromwell (1970)
Bloomfield (1971) titled The Hero (in USA)
The Snow Goose (1971) (TV)
Man in the Wilderness (1971)
The Deadly Trackers (1973)
99 and 44/100% Dead (1974) titled Call Harry Crown (in UK)
Juggernaut (1974) titled Terror On the Britannic (in USA)
Echoes of a Summer (1976) titled The Last Castle (in USA)
Robin and Marian (1976)
The Return of a Man Called Horse (1976)
The Cassandra Crossing (1976) titled Treffpunkt Todesbrücke (in West Germany)
Gulliver's Travels (1977)
Orca (1977) also titled Orca: Killer Whale
Golden Rendezvous (1977) titled Nuclear Terror (in USA on TV)
The Wild Geese (1978)
Ravagers (1979)
A Game for Vultures (1979)
The Last Word (1980) titled The Number (in UK)
Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981)
Your Ticket Is No Longer Valid (1981) titled L' Ultime passion (in Canada: French title)
Triumphs of a Man Called Horse (1982) titled El Triunfo de un hombre llamado Caballo (in Spain)
Camelot (1982) (TV)
Martin's Day (1984)
Highpoint (1984)
Maigret (1988) (TV)
Trappola diabolica (1988) titled Strike Commando 2 (when International: English title)
King of the Wind (1989)
Mack the Knife (1990) also titled The Threepenny Opera
The Field (1990)
Patriot Games (1992)
Unforgiven (1992)
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993)
Silent Tongue (1994) titled Le Gardien des esprits (in France)
Abraham (1994) (TV) titled Die Bibel - Abraham (in Germany) & La Bible: Abraham (in France)
Cry, the Beloved Country (1995)
The Great Kandinsky (1995) (TV)
Trojan Eddie (1996)
Savage Hearts (1997)
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)
The Hunchback (1997) (TV) titled The Hunchback of Notre Dame (in Europe: English title)
This Is the Sea (1997)
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)
To Walk with Lions (1999) titled Un homme parmi les lions (in Canada: French title)
Grizzly Falls (1999)
Gladiator (2000)
The Pearl (2001)
My Kingdom (2001)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (International: English title)
The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) titled Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo (in USA: complete title)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
San Giovanni - L'apocalisse (2002) (TV) titled Die Bibel: Apokalypse (in Germany) & The Apocalypse (in USA)
"Julius Caesar" (2002) (TV mini series) titled Caesar (in USA) & Giulio Cesare (in Italy)
Kaena: La prophétie (2003) (voice: English version) titled Kaena: The Prophecy (in USA)
See also
List of people on stamps of Ireland
