Biography: A genuine star of cinema onscreen, and a fiery hell raiser off screen, Richard St John Harris was born on October 1st 1930 at Limerick, Ireland...the son of a local farmer, he was an excellent rugby player, plus he had a strong passion for literature. Unfortunately, a teenage bout of tuberculosis ended his rugby career aspirations, but Harris became fascinated with the theater and skipped a local ... show all A genuine star of cinema onscreen, and a fiery hell raiser off screen, Richard St John Harris was born on October 1st 1930 at Limerick, Ireland...the son of a local farmer, he was an excellent rugby player, plus he had a strong passion for literature. Unfortunately, a teenage bout of tuberculosis ended his rugby career aspirations, but Harris became fascinated with the theater and skipped a local dance one night to attend a play of "Henry IV". He was hooked, and he went on to learn his stage craft at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and then spent several years in stage productions. He debuted on screen in "The Alive and Kicking (1958)", and quickly scored regular work in films including "Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959)", "Terrible Beauty, A (1960)", and as a frustrated Australian bomber pilot in "Guns Of Navarone (1961)".
However, his breakthrough performance was as the quintessential "angry young man" in the sensational drama "The This Sporting Life (1963)", which scored him an Oscar nomination. He then appeared in the WW2 commando tale "Heroes Of Telemark (1965)" and in the Sam Peckinpah directed western "Major Dundee (1965)", plus "Hawaii (1966)", and as "King Arthur" in the lackluster adaptation of "Camelot (1967)". Better performances followed alongside Sean Connery in "Molly Maguires (1970)", and then Harris took the lead role in the violent western "A Man Called Horse (1970)", that became something of a cult film, with two later sequels.
As the 1970s progressed, Harris continued to appear regularly onscreen, however the quality of the scripts swayed from above average to woeful. His film credits during this period included directing himself as an aging soccer player in the delightful "The Bloomfield (1971)", "Deadly Trackers (1973)", "The Juggernaut (1974)", the strangely titled crime film "99 and 44/100% Dead (1974)", with 'Sean Connery (qv) again in "Robin and Marian (1976)", "Gulliver's Travels (1977)" in the "Jaws" rip off "Orca (1977)", and with Richard Burton and Roger Moore as an ill-fated mercenary in "Wild Geese (1978)".
The 1980s kicked off with him appearing in the silly "Tarzan, The Ape Man (1981)" and the remainder of the decade had him appearing in some very forgettable productions.
However, the luck of the Irish was once again to shine on his career, and he scored rave reviews (and another Oscar nomination) for "The Field (1990)", he then locked horns with Harrison Ford as an IRA sympathizer in "The Patriot Games (1992)", and as gunfighter "English Bob" in the Clint Eastwood western "Unforgiven (1992)". Harris was firmly back in vogue, and he rewarded his fans with more wonderful performances in "Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993)", "Cry, the Beloved Country (1995)", "Great Kandinsky (1995)" and "This Is the Sea (1997)". Further fortune came his way with a strong performance in the block buster "Gladiator (2000)", and he became known to younger film fans as "Albus Dumbledore" in the hugely successful "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)". His final screen role was as "Lucius Sulla" in the mini series "Julius Caesar" (2002)".
A diverse, vigorous and captivating actor, Richard Harris passed away from Hodgkin's disease on October 25th, 2002. hide |