Two-time Best Actor nominee Richard Harris, who was also famous for his feisty, off-screen exploits, was once characterized along with Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole as one of Britain's most charismatic and unpredictable leading men during the heyday of their popularity in the '60s and '70s. He died at the University College of London Hospital on Friday, Oct. 25. He had been suffering from Hodgkin's disease, a form of lymphatic cancer, and was 72 years old.
Harris was born October 1, 1930, in Limerick, Ireland, one of nine children born to farmer Ivan Harris and his wife, Mildred Harty. He was a noted rugby player as a youth, but shortly after his move to London in the mid-50s, Harris studied classical acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. After a few years of stage experience, he made his screen debut in
Alive and Kicking (1958) and quickly developed a reputation as a talented young actor. His film career became increasingly impressive with such strong supporting turns in
Shake Hands with the Devil (1959),
The Guns of Navarone (1961) and
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962).
Yet it wasn't until 1963 that Harris became an unlikely star after thrilling movie viewers and critics with his electrifying performance in
This Sporting Life. His portrayal of a bitter young coal miner who becomes a professional rugby star marked the arrival of a major international talent and won him the Best Actor award at Cannes and an Oscar nomination.
Strangely enough, Harris' next projects were multimillion dollar epics and he went largely unnoticed amid the all-star casts; he had a small role as Cain in John Huston's production of
The Bible (1966) and in
Hawaii (1966) he played a sea captain who falls in love with a married woman (Julie Andrews). He also tried his hand at a mod spy comedy opposite Doris Day -
Caprice (1967). A much better role for him was playing King Arthur in the film version of the Broadway hit
Camelot (1967). The movie was not well received critically, but Harris' singing skills proved to be a surprise; not only did he win a Golden Globe for his performance, but the film's soundtrack album proved to be a bigger commercial hit than the film itself. Even more surprising was his unexpected success the following year with the pop hit "MacArthur Park" - that kitsch cornerstone of lounge karaoke. The song just missed topping the Billboard singles chart in the "Summer of 1968;" It was topped by Herb Albert's "
This Guy's In Love with You."
The '70s proved to be a mixed bag for Harris. He scored a huge commercial hit with his best-known film of that decade,
A Man Called Horse (1970). It became a cult Western and featured him as an English aristocrat captured, tortured and eventually adopted by Sioux Indians. He also showed some promise behind the camera, co-writing the screenplay for the psychological thriller
The Lady in the Car With Glasses and a Gun (1970) and directing (as well as starring) in
The Hero (1972), a drama about an aging soccer star. But the quality of films in which Harris appeared declined as the decade progressed:
Orca (1977) - a terrible
Jaws rip-off,
The Wild Geese(1978), and worst of all,
Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981), in which he had a thankless role as Bo Derek's explorer father.
Based on those films and his general inactivity in the '80s, Harris' comeback performance in
The Field (1990) was a wonderful surprise. In that film he played a man who has nurtured a field into a prized piece of real estate only to lose his sanity as the property is taken from him; the role earned him a deserved Oscar nomination and showed that he was still a vital screen presence. Harris took full advantage of this new spurt in his career by committing himself to many fine character roles: the cool, refined gunslinger in
Unforgiven(1992), his intense portrayal of a father mourning the death of his son in
Cry the Beloved Country (1995), the resident villain of
Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997), and as the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius in the epic
Gladiator (2000).
Yet Harris will probably be best remembered by current audiences for his portrayal of Dumbledore, the benevolent and wily head of Hogwarts School in
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) and
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) which will be released nationwide in just three weeks. Harris is survived by his three sons, Jared, Jamie (both actors) and the director Damian Harris.
by Michael T. Toole
