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Richard Harris

Richard Harris

Birthday: 1930-10-01 | Place of Birth: Limerick City, Munster, Ireland

Richard St. John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer. 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 as 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) and a gunfighter in Clint Eastwood's Western film Unforgiven (1992). As a singer, Harris is probably best remembered for his recording of Jimmy Webb's song "MacArthur Park", which reached the top ten in sales on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean in 1968. Harris, the fifth of nine children, was born in Limerick City, County Limerick, Munster, Ireland, the son of Ivan John Harris and Mildred Josephine Harty Harris. In 1957, he married Elizabeth Rees-Williams, the daughter of David Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore. Their three children are the actor Jared Harris, the actor Jamie Harris, and the director Damian Harris. Harris and Rees-Willams divorced in 1969, and then Elizabeth married another well-known actor, Sir Rex Harrison. Harris' second marriage was to the American actress Ann Turkel, who was 16 years younger than he, and this marriage also ended in a divorce. Despite his divorces, Harris was a member of the Roman Catholic Knights of Malta, and was also dubbed a knight by the Queen of Denmark in 1985. Harris was a life long friend of actor Peter O'Toole. Harris died of Hodgkin's disease on 25 October 2002, aged 72, two and a half weeks before the American premiere of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He was replaced as Dumbledore by the Irish-born actor Sir Michael Gambon. For years, whenever he was in London, Harris resided at the Savoy Hotel. According to the hotel archivist Susan Scott, as Harris was being taken from the hotel on a stretcher, shortly before his death, he warned the diners, "It was the food!" Harris's remains were cremated, and his ashes were scattered in The Bahamas Islands, where he had owned a home.

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

2004
The Apocalypse

as    John

2002
The Count of Monte Cristo

as    Abbé Faria

2002
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

as    Albus Dumbledore

2002
Julius Caesar

as    Lucius Cornelius Sulla

2001
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

as    Albus Dumbledore

2001
My Kingdom

as    Sandeman

2000
Gladiator

as    Marcus Aurelius

1999
To Walk with Lions

as    George Adamson

1998
The Barber of Siberia

as    Douglas McCraken

1997
The Hunchback

as    Dom Frollo

1997
Smilla's Sense of Snow

as    Dr. Andreas Tork

1996
Trojan Eddie

as    John Power

1993
Abraham

as    Abraham

1993
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway

as    Frank

1993
Silent Tongue

as    Prescott Roe

1992
Unforgiven

as    English Bob

1992
Patriot Games

as    Paddy O'Neil

1990
The Field

as    'Bull' McCabe

1990
King of the Wind

as    King George II

1989
Mack the Knife

as    Mr. Peachum

1988
Strike Commando 2

as    Major Vic Jenkins

1984
Highpoint

as    Lewis Kinney

1981
Tarzan the Ape Man

as    James Porter

1981
1979
The Last Word

as    Danny Travis

1979
Ravagers

as    Falk

1978
The Wild Geese

as    Capt. Rafer Janders

1977
Orca

as    Captain Nolan