Richard Harris

Harris married Elizabeth Rees-Williams, daughter of David Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore in 1957. The couple had three children together: Jared Harris, Jamie Harris and Damian Harris. They got divorced in 1969.

He got married for the second time to the American actress Ann Turkel in 1974 but that marriage also ended in a divorce in 1982.

He died at University College Hospital, London, on 25 October 2002, aged 72 and his remains were cremated and ashes were scattered in the Bahamas.

Richard Harris was born in Limerick city, Ireland, to Ivan John Harris and Mildred Josephine Harris. He and his siblings: Patrick Ivan, Noel William Michael, Diarmid Dermont and William George Harris were brought up in a middle class household.

He attended the Crescent College and was considered as a brilliant rugby player – he played many Munster Junior and Senior Cups for his school team but after contracting tuberculosis, Harris’ athletic career was cut short.

He read voraciously for two years while he was recuperating from TB and his ambitions changed after that. He decided he wanted a career in arts and moved to England and enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1956.

After completing his studies, Harris joined Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop and started acting briefly in West End theater productions like ‘The Quare Fellow’ in 1956. He spent years in England working in various theater productions.

Harris made his debut with 1959’s ‘Alive and Kicking’, after which he started getting roles in a number of major motion pictures. He did the World War II action adventure ‘The Guns of Navarone’ and ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’.

His first major movie was ‘This Sporting Life’ in 1963 in which he portrayed the role of a coal miner turned famous rugby player. He earned a Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for the movie.

‘Camelot’ (1967), in which he played the role of King Arthur, did not do well commercially but Harris bought the rights to the show and toured in ‘Camelot’ many times in his performance career, which proved to be a success.

Harris again gained the confidence of the critics and love of his fans with ‘A Man Called Horse’ in 1970, in which he played the role of an English noble who gets captured by Native Americans.

In 1971, he did a BBC TV film adaptation ‘The Snow Goose’. The screenplay by Paul Gallico won a Golden Globe award for Best Movie made for Television and was nominated for a BAFTA award and an Emmy award.

The most significant work of Harris’ career is considered to be his role of ‘Frank Machin’ in ‘This Supporting Life (1963)’. It was his first starring role and he won Best Actor Award at Cannes Film Festival.