Richard Harris

Born: 1st October, 1930
Where: Limerick, Ireland
Died: 25th October 2002

Richard Harris was educated at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in London, which became his home as soon as he left school in Ireland. He was 26 years old before he debuted on stage in the West End in a production of The Quare Fellow at the Royal Stratford theatre.

That same year he was already directing a stage production of Winter Journey and embarked on a career on stage and off, on screen and off that would last at least half a century.

In 1957 Richard made his TV debut in the British programme The Iron Harp and the following year he was featured in his first movie, Alive and Kicking, directed by Cyril Frankel.

The beginning of the 60s saw Richard in the largest screen roles of his career. He played Seaman John Mills in Mutiny on the Bounty and Corporal Johnstone in The Long and the Short and the Tall.

Although his previous two roles were bigger, his first lead movie role didn't come until the following year when he secured the main part in This Sporting Life, opposite Rachel Roberts.

In 1968 Richard decided to increase his artistic repertoire and recorded a song called MacArthur's Park, which immediately became a hit single.

By the 70s Richard was ready to get behind the camera. He directed Bloomfield, which he co-wrote and also starred in, and four years later he was already executive producing two films: Echoes of a Summer and Return of a Man Called Horse (both of which he starred in as well.)

Recently he delighted a new generation of fans with his performance as Professor Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - a role he managed to repeat in the second Harry Potter film, completed just before his death from cancer in October 2002.