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 | Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts | Self (Archival Footage) | 2022-01-01 |
Movie | The Rescue | Self | 2021-10-08 |
Movie | Clint Eastwood: A Cinematic Legacy | Self | 2021-09-09 |
Movie | After Newtown: Guns in America | Narrator (voice) | 2013-02-19 |
Movie | Jack and Jill | Documentary Twin | 2011-11-11 |
Movie | Creating the World of Harry Potter, Part 2: Characters | Albus Dumbledore | 2009-11-17 |
Movie | Creating the World of Harry Potter, Part 2: Characters | Self | 2009-11-17 |
Movie | Strength and Honor: Creating the World of 'Gladiator' | Self | 2005-06-07 |
Movie | The Apocalypse | John | 2004-12-03 |
Movie | Lindsay Anderson: Lucky Man? | Interviewee (archival) | 2004-01-01 |
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 | Julius Caesar | Lucius Cornelius Sulla | 2002-12-27 |
Movie | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | Albus Dumbledore | 2002-11-13 |
Movie | Eastwood & Co.: Making 'Unforgiven' | Self | 2002-09-24 |
Movie | The Count of Monte Cristo | Abbé Faria | 2002-01-23 |
Movie | Muhammad Ali - Through The Eyes Of The World | Self | 2001-11-19 |
Movie | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | Albus Dumbledore | 2001-11-16 |
Series | Friday Night with Jonathan Ross | Unknown | 2001-11-02 |
Movie | My Kingdom | Sandeman | 2001-09-10 |
Movie | The Pearl | Dr. Karl | 2001-01-01 |
Movie | Gladiator | Marcus Aurelius | 2000-05-04 |
Movie | The Burkittsville 7 | Marcus | 2000-10-03 |
Series | Bette | Unknown | 2000-10-11 |
Movie | Grizzly Falls | Old Harry | 1999-11-05 |
Movie | To Walk with Lions | George Adamson | 1999-06-04 |
Movie | The Barber of Siberia | Douglas McCraken | 1998-11-11 |
Movie | Sesame Street: Elmopalooza | Himself (archive footage) | 1998-02-20 |
Movie | Sesame Street: Elmopalooza! | Self (archive footage) | 1998-02-20 |
Movie | This Is the Sea | Old Man Jacobs | 1997-09-15 |
Movie | The Hunchback | Dom Frollo | 1997-03-16 |
Movie | Smilla's Sense of Snow | Dr. Andreas Tork | 1997-02-28 |
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 | Wrestling Ernest Hemingway | Frank | 1993-12-17 |
Movie | Abraham | Abraham | 1993-12-12 |
Movie | Silent Tongue | Prescott Roe | 1993-01-28 |
Movie | Unforgiven | English Bob | 1992-08-07 |
Movie | Patriot Games | Paddy O'Neil | 1992-06-04 |
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 | Strike Commando 2 | Major Vic Jenkins | 1988-08-17 |
Movie | Maigret | Jules Maigret | 1988-02-22 |
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 |
Movie | Tarzan: The Ape Man | James Porter | 1981-08-07 |
Movie | Tarzan, the Ape Man | James Porter | 1981-08-07 |
Series | Russell Harty | Unknown | 1980-10-28 |
Movie | Game for Vultures | David Swansey | 1980-09-17 |
Movie | The Last Word | Danny Travis | 1979-10-10 |
Movie | Ravagers | Falk | 1979-05-01 |
Movie | The Wild Geese | Capt. Rafer Janders | 1978-06-28 |
Movie | Stars' War - The Flight of the Wild Geese | Himself | 1978-01-01 |
Movie | Gulliver's Travels | Gulliver | 1977-01-01 |
Movie | Orca: The Killer Whale | Captain Nolan | 1977-07-22 |
Movie | Golden Rendezvous | John Carter | 1977-12-25 |
Movie | Orca | Captain Nolan | 1977-07-22 |
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 | Echoes of a Summer | Eugene | 1976-02-06 |
Movie | Burt Bacharach in Shangri-La | Self | 1976-01-26 |
Movie | Juggernaut | Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Fallon | 1974-09-25 |
Movie | 99 and 44/100% Dead | Harry Crown | 1974-08-29 |
Movie | The Deadly Trackers | Sheriff Sean Kilpatrick | 1973-12-21 |
Movie | Man in the Wilderness | Zachary Bass | 1971-11-24 |
Movie | The Snow Goose | Philip Rhayadar | 1971-11-15 |
Movie | The Molly Maguires | James McKenna | 1970-02-08 |
Movie | Bloomfield | Eitan | 1970-12-01 |
Movie | A Man Called Horse | John Morgan | 1970-05-01 |
Movie | Cromwell | Oliver Cromwell | 1970-09-16 |
Series | The Dick Cavett Show | Himself - Guest | 1968-06-06 |
Movie | Camelot | King Arthur | 1967-10-25 |
Movie | Caprice | Christopher White | 1967-04-18 |
Movie | Hawaii | Rafer Hoxworth | 1966-10-10 |
Movie | The Bible: In the Beginning... | Cain | 1966-09-28 |
Movie | The Heroes of Telemark | Knut Straud | 1965-11-12 |
Movie | Major Dundee | Captain Benjamin Tyreen | 1965-04-07 |
Movie | The Three Faces | Robert (segment "Gli amanti celebri") | 1965-02-12 |
Movie | Red Desert | Corrado Zeller | 1964-09-04 |
Series | The Hollywood Palace | Unknown | 1964-01-04 |
Movie | This Sporting Life | Frank Machin | 1963-02-07 |
Movie | Mutiny on the Bounty | Seaman John Mills | 1962-11-08 |
Movie | The Guns of Navarone | Squadron Leader Howard Barnsby RAAF | 1961-04-27 |
Movie | The Long and the Short and the Tall | Cpl. Johnstone | 1961-02-28 |
Movie | A Terrible Beauty | Sean Reilly | 1960-06-17 |
Movie | The Wreck of the Mary Deare | Higgins | 1959-11-17 |
Movie | Alive and Kicking | Lover | 1959-07-13 |
Movie | Shake Hands with the Devil | Terence O'Brien | 1959-06-24 |
Series | This Is Your Life | Unknown | 1955-07-29 |
Series | The Academy Awards | Unknown | 1953-03-18 |
Series | Hallmark Hall of Fame | Unknown | 1951-12-24 |
Series | The Ed Sullivan Show | Unknown | 1948-06-20 |