Rex Harrison

Harrison got married six times in his life.

In 1942, he divorced his first wife, Colette Thomas, and married actress Lilli Palmer.

Harrison had a son, Noel, from his first marriage. Noel became an Olympic skier, singer and an actor. He acted in many plays including ‘My Fair Lady’ in his father's award-winning role. He died suddenly of a heart attack on 19th October 2013 at age 79.

Harrison was born on 5th March 1908 at Derry House in Huyton, Lancashire, to Mrs. Edith Mary and Mr. William Reginald Harrison who was a cotton broker.

He was educated at Liverpool College.

After a bout of childhood measles, Harrison lost most of the sight in his left eye, which on one occasion caused some on-stage difficulty.

He first appeared on the stage in 1924 at the age of 18 in Liverpool.

He served as Flight Lieutenant in Royal Air Force during the WWII. During this period his acting career was stalled. However, thereafter he acted in various stage productions until his death in 1990.

Harrison debuted through the film ‘The Great Game’ in 1930. After this film, he continued to give successful films like ‘The Citadel’ (released in 1938), ‘Night Train to Munich’ (released in 1940) and ‘Major Barbara’ (released in 1941).

His role in the 1945 released film ‘Blithe Spirit’ was very much appreciated. He attained international fame when he portrayed the King in ‘Anna and the King of Siam’ released in 1946. It was his first American film.

The year 1947 was fruitful for Harrison as he acted in two successful films ‘The Ghost and Mrs. Muir’ and ‘The Foxes of Harrow’.

Along with the films he continued to act in plays in London and New York. He acted in plays such as ‘Bell, Book and Candle’, ‘Venus Observed’, ‘The Cocktail Party’ and ‘The Kingfisher’. He acted as well as directed a play named ‘The Love of Four Colonels’.

He won his first Tony Award for his role of Henry VIII in a play ‘Anne of the Thousand Days’ in 1949.

Harrison tasted commercial and critical screen success for the first time in 1963 through his role of Julies Cesar in ‘Cleopatra’. It was an American epic historical drama film chronicling the struggles of Cleopatra VII, the young Queen of Egypt, to resist the royal ambitions of Rome. ‘Cleopatra’ won four Academy Awards, and was nominated for five more, including ‘Best Picture’.

He attained international superstardom in true sense through his portrayal of Professor Henry Higgins in the 1964 film version of ‘My Fair Lady’. This film was based on George Bernard Shaw's play ‘Pygmalion’. This film was critically acclaimed as well as a commercial success. This film won eight Oscars in various categories including one for Harrison in ‘Best Actor’ category. This film also won ‘Golden Globe Award’ in ‘Best Motion Picture’, ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Actor’ categories. He also won Tony award for this role. Harrison had declined to pre-record his songs for the film and thus could not lip-sync to a playback during filming. Production team decided to use a wireless microphone, the first such use during filming of a motion picture. The sound department earned an Academy Award for these efforts. The film was restored in 1994 by James C. Katz.