Richard Harris was an actor, singer, theatrical producer, writer, poet & film director. His versatility was evident in his varied film roles whether he was playing a Roman Emperor, a wizard, a tenant-farmer or a mutineer. As Terry McMahon put it; “Since Harris tore the screen a new one in This Sporting Life, he has always been our Brando. Simple as that. To celebrate such a movie god makes brief heroes of the rest of us mere mortals.”
Early Life
Limerick’s most famous and favorite actor was born Richard St. John Harris on the 1st of October, 1930. He was the fifth out of nine children born to Ivan John Harris and Mildred Josephine (Harty) HarrisDickie, as he is affectionately known in Limerick attended the Jesuit-run Crescent College on O’Connell Street in the heart of Limerick City.
Richard was a talented rugby player and was on several Munster Junior and Senior Cup teams for Crescent. He also played for Crescent junior team and played for Garryowen at senior level. His athletic career was cut short however when he caught tuberculosis as a teenager. He did however remain an ardent fan of the Munster Rugby and Young Munster teams then until his death on the 25th of October, 2002.
The Arts
While ill with TB he read voraciously while recuperating and found that he his interests shifted towards a new interest in the arts. He read Joyce, Beckett, D H Lawrence, Dylan Thomas and Yeats and began writing poetry.
He went on to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) before making his stage debut in 1956 made in The Quare Fellow. Dickie made his mark and soon became one of a new generation of young British actors in the London theatre scene that included actors such as Albert Finney among others.
Early Films
His breakthrough success and, perhaps, most impressive early performance came during his first lead role, as a character called Frank Machin in This Sporting Life (1963). Dickie netted an Academy Award nomination and won Best Actor in 1963 at the Cannes Film Festival for his portrayal of a short tempered coal-miner turned rugby star.
Career in Music
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Harris went on to record several more pop albums and singles through the 1970s and he continued to perform on multiple musical film soundtracks in the decades that followed.
A Long and Fruitful Career
Richard continued to make several films per year through the 1970s, ’80s, ’90s and into the early 2000s. Some of the more notable roles he played were in A Man Called Horse in 1970 (which spawned two sequels in 1976 and 1983), Bloomfield in 1971 (also Richard’s directorial debut), Echoes of Summer (1976), Gulliver’s Travels (1977), Your Ticket Is No Longer Valid (1981), The Field (1989), Unforgiven (1992), Cry, the Beloved Country (1995), Gladiator (2000) and as the wizard Dumbledore in the initial two Harry Potter films (2001, 2002).
In more recent years he starred alongside some of the more contemporary talents such as Anne Archer, Russell Crowe, Morgan Freeman, Joaquin Pheonix, Oliver Reed, Sean Bean, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, John Cleese, Warwick Davis, Dame Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Julie Walters, Fiona Shaw and Robbie Coltrane. There are just too many to mention them all. He also worked with some wonderful directors, Chris Columbus, Ridley Scott, Clint Eastwood, Jim Sheridan, Ken Hughes, Martin Ritt, John Huston and Lindsey Anderson.
Richard Harris Career Accomplishments