Richard Harris

Richard Harris
Harris in 1985
Born
Richard St John Francis Harris

(1930-10-01)1 October 1930
Limerick, Ireland
Died25 October 2002(2002-10-25) (aged 72)
Bloomsbury, London, England
Resting placeMount Saint Lawrence Cemetery, Limerick, Ireland
Alma materLondon Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Occupation(s)Actor, singer
Years active1956–2002
Spouses
  • Elizabeth Rees-Williams
    (m. 1957; div. 1969)
  • (m. 1974; div. 1982)
Children
RelativesAnnabelle Wallis (great-niece)
Signature

Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002)[1] was an Irish actor and singer. Having studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, he rose to prominence as an icon of the British New Wave. He received numerous accolades including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, and a Grammy Award. In 2020, he was listed at number 3 on The Irish Times's list of Ireland's greatest film actors.[2]

Harris received two Academy Award for Best Actor nominations for his performances in This Sporting Life (1963), and The Field (1990). Other notable roles include in The Guns of Navarone (1961), Red Desert (1964), A Man Called Horse (1970), Cromwell (1970), Unforgiven (1992), Gladiator (2000), and The Count of Monte Cristo (2002). He gained cross-generational acclaim for his role as Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), the latter of which was his final film role.

He portrayed King Arthur in the 1967 film Camelot based on the Lerner and Loewe musical of the same name. For his performance, he received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. He reprised the role in the 1981 Broadway musical revival. He received a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor nomination for his role in Pirandello's Henry IV (1991).

Harris received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie nomination for his role in The Snow Goose (1971). Harris had a number-one singing hit in Australia, Jamaica and Canada, and a top-ten hit in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States with his 1968 recording of Jimmy Webb's song "MacArthur Park". He received a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance nomination for the song.

  1. ^ "Harris, Richard St John Francis (1930–2002), actor". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/77336. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ Clarke, Donald; Brady, Tara (13 June 2020). "The 50 greatest Irish film actors of all time – in order". The Irish Times. Retrieved 25 July 2020.