RICHARD HARRISPerhaps best known for his roles as King Arthur in Camelot and Professor Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films, Richard Harris was a familiar face on both stage and screen up. He died on 25 October, 2002, aged 72.He also recorded a number of music albums which topped charts both in Britain and abroad, with the seven-minute song ‘MacArthur Park’ selling five million copies worldwide and reaching number 2 on the US billboard pop chart in 1968.The Irish legendthrilled audiences of stage and screen over a career spanning nearly half a century and brought glamour to even the weakest of productions.Richard St John Harris was born on 1 October, 1930, in Limerick, Ireland. One of nine children, he grew up a talented rugby player but any hopes of a professional sporting career were cut short when he contracted tuberculosis in his teens.After recovering from the disease he moved to London where he hoped to become a director. Unable to find any suitable training courses, however, he enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art to learn acting and rented a tiny theatre to direct his own production of Clifford Odet’s play ‘Winter Journey’.The show was a critical success but, a financial failure, Mr Harris lost all his savings on the venture and even found himself homeless for a short time, reportedly sleeping in a coal cellar for six weeks.After completing his studies at the Academy, he joined Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop during the 1950s and soon saw his luck change, with a series of roles in West End theatre productions.Screen, too, held a great deal of opportunity for the young Mr Harris and his first major film, ‘This Sporting Life’, hit cinemas in 1963. It won the rising actor a best actor award at the Cannes film festival, while 1962’s ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ saw him achieve third billing behind Trevor Howard and Marlon Brando.Further roles on-screen, including the popular film adaptation of ‘Camelot’ and social drama ‘The Molly Maguires’, cemented his reputation as a talented actor.1973, on the other hand, saw him publish a book of poetry entitled ‘I, In The Membership of My Days’. It met with critical acclaim and even led his later recital of it in record format.However, later roles in blockbusters such as ‘The Field’, ‘Gladiator’ and ‘Unforgiven’ thrust Mr Harris firmly back into the limelight of screen entertainment and, by the 1990s he was a major Hollywood name, commanding huge fees.Undoubtably his most recent, and perhaps most famous, role came with the 2001 launch of Warner Bros. adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter’ series, in which he was cast as Professor Albus Dumbledore.He died of Hodgkin’s Disease on 25 October, 2002, aged 72, only weeks before the US premiere of the second Harry Potter film, ‘Chamber of Secrets’.Chat show host, Michael Parkinson, described him as “an extraordinary man” and “a great storyteller,” while film director Michael Winner remarked: “The lights have dimmed a lot with his passing.”After his death, he was replaced in the Harry Potter franchise by fellow Irish-born actor Michael Gambon. Mr Harris famously only took the role of Dumbledore at his granddaughter’s request, who reportedly threatened never to speak to him again if he refused.‘Harris’s Bar’, in Limerick, Ireland, opened in 2005 in memory of the actor. Elsewhere in Limerick, a statue of him was unveiled in 2006 along the recently-refurbished Bedford Row.He spent the last years of his life living in a suite at London’s world famous Savoy Hotel.
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