He was an actor, writer, singer, and a director- his talents were endless. He boasted a resume of over 70 films. Richard Harris was a fantastic actor whose works will be appreciated, long after his death on Oct. 25, 2002 of Hodgkin's disease (a form of lymphatic cancer). At age 72, he was described as a fighter to the end. Harris was "a slightly mad Irishman and a truly gifted performer", (Clint Eastwood).
Harris has been described as an actor who played the role of the rebel, and tried to match that role in real life. Born on Oct. 1, 1933, Richard Harris did not have his sights set on acting while growing up. Harris first had dreams to play rugby for Ireland, and came close when he won a Munster senior cup medal in 1951 while playing for the famous Garryowen club. However, while in his late teens, two events caused him to change his dreams. First he contracted tuberculosis, thus ending his dreams of playing rugby, and then the spark of interest for acting came. While in Dublin with some mates to see the Ireland-Scotland rugby international, he had the intention of going to the dance hall, and then pick up a girl. However, a poster for Pirandello's Henry IV, starring Michael MacLiammoir caught his eye. MacLiammoir was a strong figure in Irish Theatre, and Harris went to the play that night instead. After that, he was hooked.
Harris made his stage debut in 1956 in "The Quare Fellow". Though he started off as a stage actor, he soon made his way to film in "Alive and Kicking" (1958). Off-screen, he married Elizabeth Rees, and together they had three children who all entered the film industry. The 60's showed immense success for Harris in film with such movies as "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962), and "This Sporting Life (1963), which received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. In 1967, Harris played the role as the impressive King Arthur in the adaptation of Lerner and Loewe's "Camelot".
Unfortunately, the 70's were a let down for Harris with such movie bombs as "Highpoint" and "Tarzan, the Ape Man". In 1978, he survived an almost fatal cocaine overdose, and then proceeded to quit his drinking habit. Harris found another move in the right direction in 1982 when Richard Burton asked him to finish the final 8 weeks in a tour of "Camelot". Harris stayed with the show for the next five years, the stage brought life back to his acting career. His screen career took another jump in the film "The Field" (1990) which provided him with an Oscar nomination, which, he unfortunately did not win. Harris, however, was back on top.
Harris could be kind and bad tempered, generous, ego-crazy, and hugely professional. He even threatened to kill "Harry Potter" director Chris Columbus, if he were to ever re-cast character Albus Dumbledore. With Harris starring in the huge blockbuster, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" this season, it will make it even more difficult to believe he's gone. Perhaps it was Potter co-star Alan Rickman that said it best: "He was an absolute professional who knew how to live life to the full".
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