SIR RICHARD HARRIS

Richard St. John Harris.....Born  in 1930, Limerick City, County Limerick, Munster, Ireland.  He was the fifth of eight children.  Educated at Crescent College by the Jesuits, he was a member of several Munster Rugby teams, and was talented enough to have gone on and made a profession of the sport, had he not contracted tuberculosis in his teens.  Unable to participate he remained a staunch fan of the Munster Rugby teams until his death, and attended many of the matches, fellow rugby fans Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton.

Harris moved to England after recovering from TB and desired to become a director. Not finding a suitable training course, he enrolled in the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art to learn acting.  As a student, Harris directed his own production of Clifford Odets's play Winter Journey in the small "off-West End" Irving Theatre.  The critics gave the show great revues, but financially it was a failure, and having rented the theatre and invested in the production, Harris ended up temporarily broke and without permanent housing because of this venture.

After graduating the Academy, Harris joined a Theatre Workshop and was soon getting roles in West End theatre productions.  Harris made his movie debut in 1958 in the film Alive and Kicking.  Another notable performance was the role of King Arthur in the film adaptation of the musical play Camelot. He enjoyed a successful Broadway run and continued to appear on stage in this role for years.
Seeking further creative outlets, Harris recorded several albums of music; one titled "A Tramp Shining" included a hit song written by Jimmy Webb called "MacArthur Park".  Even though Harris mispronounced the seven minute long song's name as "MacArthur's Park", in the summer of 1968, it rose to #2 on the American Billboard magazines Hot 100 pop song chart and also topped several music sales charts in Europe.

This lone recording achievement is probably what he is best remembered for. Following it, Harris wrote a song "There are Too Many Saviours on My Cross" considered by many as a criticism of the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland for a second album of music, composed mostly by Webb, titled "The Yard Went On Forever" and published in 1969.

Richard returned to the big screen between 1970 and 2002 giving us rich and unforgettable performances in roles such as a reluctant police informant in the coal-mining tale The Molly Maguires, co-starring with Sean Connery. Then the "Man in the Wilderness", the "Juggernaut", the "Cassandra Crossing"; acting alongside Sophia Loren and Ava Gardner, and in "Orca".  Harris gained a bit of cult status for his role as the mercenary tactician Rafer Janders in the movie "The Wild Geese".  During this period, and always one to try his hand at something new, Harris published a widely-acclaimed book of poetry, "I, In The Membership Of My Days", in 1973, which was later re-published as an audio recording of his reading his own poems. 

Harris gained further notoriety playing the supporting role of Albus Dumbledore in the first two of the Harry Potter films, accepting the role mainly because his 10 year granddaughter threatened to never speak to him again.  For his final act, He voiced the character Opaz in the animated film, Kaena: The Prophecy, which was dedicated to him posthumously in 2003.

Often he told stories about "The Tower House", his haunted English Mansion, and home for much of his later years.  He was twice married and divorced, with 3 children from the first, and counted Peter O'Toole as a life long friend.  Richard Harris was an accomplished Irish actor, singer and songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer.  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. 

Grammy nominated in 1968 for the Album of Year "A Tramp Shining", and as the Contemporary Pop Male Vocalist for the singing "MacArthur Park" and again for Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama Recording for The Prophet - 1975.  He won a Grammy in 1973 for Best Spoken Word Recording for Jonathan Livingston Seagull.  He also earned Academy Award Nominations for: Best Actor in a Leading Role 1964 - This Sporting Life, and Best Actor in a Leading Role 1991- The Field.

Rumor has it that after doing the first 2 Harry Potter films, Mr. Harris asked his agent if there was a way out of the contract, to do the rest of the films. The agent's reply was "The contract is written in such a way that your only way out is to die".  Within a month he had passed away.  Harris died of Hodgkin's disease on October 25, 2002, London, England, UK, at age 72, just two and a half weeks before the American premiere of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  His remains were cremated, and his ashes were scattered in The Bahamas Islands, where he also owned a home.