Richard Harris

Richard St John Harris was born on October 1, 1930 in Limerick, Ireland, to a farming family, one of nine children born to Mildred (Harty) and Ivan Harris. He attended Crescent College, a Jesuit school, and was an excellent rugby player, with a strong passion for literature. Unfortunately, a bout of tuberculosis as a teenager ended his aspirations to a rugby career, but he became fascinated with the theater and skipped a local dance one night to attend a performance of "Henry IV". He was hooked and went on to learn his craft at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), then spent several years in stage productions. He debuted on screen in De Mãos Dadas com o Diabo (1959) and quickly scored regular work in films, including O Navio Condenado (1959), A Terrible Beauty (1960) and a good role as a frustrated Australian bomber pilot in Os Canhões de Navarone (1961). However, his breakthrough performance was as the quintessential "angry young man" in the sensational drama O Pranto de um Ídolo (1963), which scored him an Oscar nomination. He then appeared in the WW II commando tale Os Heróis de Telemark (1965) and in the Sam Peckinpah-directed western Juramento de Vingança (1965). He next showed up in Havaí (1966) and played King Arthur in Camelot (1967), a lackluster adaptation of the famous Broadway play. Better performances followed, among them a role as a reluctant police informer in Ver-te-ei no Inferno (1970) alongside Sir Sean Connery. Harris took the lead role in the violent western Um Homem Chamado Cavalo (1970), which became something of a cult film and spawned two sequels. As the 1970s progressed, Harris continued to appear regularly on screen; however, the quality of the scripts varied from above average to woeful. His credits during this period included directing himself as an aging soccer player in Crepúsculo de um Ídolo (1970); the western Fúria no Sangue (1973); the big-budget "disaster" film Juggernaut: Inferno em Alto-Mar (1974); the strangely-titled crime film Até o Último Disparo (1974); with Connery again in Robin E Marian (1976); As Viagens de Gulliver (1977); a part in the Tubarão (1975); Orca: A Baleia Assassina (1977) and a nice turn as an ill-fated mercenary with Richard Burton and Roger Moore in the popular action film Selvagens Cães de Guerra (1978). The 1980s kicked off with Harris appearing in the silly Bo Derek vanity production Tarzan, o Filho da Selva (1981) and the remainder of the decade had him appearing in some very forgettable productions. However, the luck of the Irish was once again to shine on Harris's career and he scored rave reviews (and another Oscar nomination) for Terra da Discórdia (1990). He then locked horns with Harrison Ford as an IRA sympathizer in Jogos Patrióticos (1992) and got one of his best roles as gunfighter English Bob in the Clint Eastwood western Os Imperdoáveis (1992). Harris was firmly back in vogue and rewarded his fans with more wonderful performances in Recordações (1993); Os Deserdados (1995); The Great Kandinsky (1995) and Inocentes Pecadores (1997). Further fortune came his way with a strong performance in the blockbuster Gladiador (2000) and he became known to an entirely new generation of film fans as Albus Dumbledore in the mega-successful Harry Potter e a Pedra Filosofal (2001) and Harry Potter e a Câmara Secreta (2002). His final screen role was as "Lucius Sulla" in Júlio César (2002). Harris died of Hodgkin's disease, also known as Hodgkin's lymphoma, in London on October 25, 2002, aged 72.