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.
Movie | Hancock: Very Nearly an Armful | Self | 2023-01-14 |
Movie | After Newtown: Guns in America | Narrator (voice) | 2013-02-19 |
Movie | Jack and Jill | Documentary Twin | 2011-11-11 |
Movie | Strength and Honor: Creating the World of 'Gladiator' | Self | 2005-06-07 |
Movie | The Apocalypse | John | 2004-12-03 |
Movie | Kaena: The Prophecy | Opaz (english voice) | 2003-01-02 |
Series | Julius Caesar | Lucius Cornelius Silla | 2003-06-29 |
Movie | The Heroes of Telemark: Location report from Norway | 2003-10-31 | |
Movie | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | Albus Dumbledore | 2002-11-13 |
Movie | The Count of Monte Cristo | Abbé Faria | 2002-01-23 |
Movie | Julius Caesar | Lucius Cornelius Sulla | 2002-12-27 |
Movie | My Kingdom | Sandeman | 2001-09-10 |
Series | Friday Night with Jonathan Ross | Unknown | 2001-11-02 |
Movie | The Pearl | Dr. Karl | 2001-01-01 |
Movie | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | Albus Dumbledore | 2001-11-16 |
Movie | Muhammad Ali - Through The Eyes Of The World | Self | 2001-11-19 |
Movie | Gladiator | Marcus Aurelius | 2000-05-04 |
Movie | The Burkittsville 7 | Marcus | 2000-10-03 |
Series | Bette | Unknown | 2000-10-11 |
Movie | To Walk with Lions | George Adamson | 1999-06-04 |
Movie | Grizzly Falls | Old Harry | 1999-11-05 |
Movie | Sesame Street: Elmopalooza! | Self (archive footage) | 1998-02-20 |
Movie | The Barber of Siberia | Douglas McCraken | 1998-11-11 |
Movie | This Is the Sea | Old Man Jacobs | 1997-09-15 |
Movie | Smilla's Sense of Snow | Dr. Andreas Tork | 1997-02-28 |
Movie | The Hunchback | Dom Frollo | 1997-03-16 |
Movie | Trojan Eddie | John Power | 1996-09-09 |
Movie | Savage Hearts | Sir Roger Foxley | 1995-05-20 |
Movie | The Great Kandinsky | Ernest Kandinsky | 1995-10-13 |
Movie | Cry, the Beloved Country | James Jarvis | 1995-12-15 |
Movie | Silent Tongue | Prescott Roe | 1993-01-28 |
Movie | Abraham | Abraham | 1993-12-12 |
Movie | Wrestling Ernest Hemingway | Frank | 1993-12-17 |
Movie | Patriot Games | Paddy O'Neil | 1992-06-04 |
Movie | Unforgiven | English Bob | 1992-08-07 |
Movie | The Field | 'Bull' McCabe | 1990-09-21 |
Movie | King of the Wind | King George II | 1990-05-25 |
Movie | Mack the Knife | Mr. Peachum | 1989-11-01 |
Movie | Maigret | Jules Maigret | 1988-02-22 |
Movie | Strike Commando 2 | Major Vic Jenkins | 1988-08-17 |
Movie | Martin's Day | Martin Steckert | 1985-02-22 |
Movie | Triumphs of a Man Called Horse | John Morgan - Man Called Horse | 1983-01-01 |
Movie | Highpoint | Lewis Kinney | 1982-08-20 |
Movie | Camelot | King Arthur | 1982-09-26 |
Movie | Tarzan the Ape Man | James Porter | 1981-08-07 |
Movie | Your Ticket Is No Longer Valid | Jason | 1981-09-19 |
Series | Russell Harty | Unknown | 1980-10-28 |
Movie | Game for Vultures | David Swansey | 1979-06-25 |
Movie | The Last Word | Danny Travis | 1979-10-10 |
Movie | Ravagers | Falk | 1979-06-26 |
Movie | Stars' War - The Flight of the Wild Geese | Self | 1978-01-01 |
Movie | The Wild Geese | Capt. Rafer Janders | 1978-06-28 |
Movie | Golden Rendezvous | John Carter | 1977-12-25 |
Movie | Gulliver's Travels | Gulliver | 1977-01-01 |
Movie | Orca | Captain Nolan | 1977-07-22 |
Movie | Burt Bacharach in Shangri-La | Self | 1976-01-26 |
Movie | Echoes of a Summer | Eugene | 1976-02-06 |
Movie | The Cassandra Crossing | Dr. Jonathan Chamberlain | 1976-12-18 |
Movie | The Return of a Man Called Horse | John Morgan / Horse | 1976-06-28 |
Movie | Robin and Marian | Richard the Lionheart / King Richard | 1976-03-11 |
Movie | 99 and 44/100% Dead | Harry Crown | 1974-08-29 |
Movie | Juggernaut | Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Fallon | 1974-09-25 |
Movie | The Deadly Trackers | Sheriff Sean Kilpatrick | 1973-12-21 |
Movie | The Snow Goose | Philip Rhayadar | 1971-11-15 |
Movie | Man in the Wilderness | Zachary Bass | 1971-11-24 |
Movie | The Molly Maguires | James McKenna | 1970-02-08 |
Movie | A Man Called Horse | John Morgan | 1970-05-01 |
Movie | Cromwell | Oliver Cromwell | 1970-08-14 |
Movie | Bloomfield | Eitan | 1970-12-01 |
Series | The Dick Cavett Show | Himself - Guest | 1968-06-06 |
Movie | Caprice | Christopher White | 1967-04-18 |
Movie | Camelot | King Arthur | 1967-10-25 |
Movie | The Bible: In the Beginning... | Cain | 1966-09-28 |
Movie | Hawaii | Rafer Hoxworth | 1966-10-10 |
Movie | The Three Faces | Robert (segment "Gli amanti celebri") | 1965-02-12 |
Movie | The Heroes of Telemark | Knut Straud | 1965-11-12 |
Movie | Major Dundee | Captain Benjamin Tyreen | 1965-04-07 |
Series | The Hollywood Palace | Unknown | 1964-01-04 |
Movie | Red Desert | Corrado Zeller | 1964-09-04 |
Movie | This Sporting Life | Frank Machin | 1963-02-07 |
Movie | Mutiny on the Bounty | Seaman John Mills | 1962-11-08 |
Movie | The Long and the Short and the Tall | Cpl. Johnstone | 1961-02-28 |
Movie | The Guns of Navarone | Squadron Leader Howard Barnsby RAAF | 1961-04-27 |
Movie | A Terrible Beauty | Sean Reilly | 1960-06-17 |
Movie | Shake Hands with the Devil | Terence O'Brien | 1959-06-24 |
Movie | The Wreck of the Mary Deare | Higgins | 1959-11-17 |
Movie | Alive and Kicking | Lover | 1959-07-13 |
Series | This Is Your Life | Unknown | 1955-07-29 |
Series | The Oscars | Unknown | 1953-03-19 |
Series | Hallmark Hall of Fame | Unknown | 1951-12-24 |
Series | The Ed Sullivan Show | Unknown | 1948-06-20 |