تولد
October 1, 1930 in Limerick, Ireland
محل تولد
New York City , New York , USA
Richard St John Harris was born on October 1, 1930 in Limerick, Ireland, to a farming family, one of nine children born to Mildred Josephine (nee Harty) and Ivan John 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 Ein Händedruck des Teufels (1959) and quickly scored regular work in films, including Die den Tod nicht fürchten (1959), Aufstand im Morgengrauen (1960) and a good role as a frustrated Australian bomber pilot in Die Kanonen von Navarone (1961). However, his breakthrough performance was as the quintessential "angry young man" in the sensational drama Lockender Lorbeer (1963), which scored him an Oscar nomination. He then appeared in the WW II commando tale Kennwort 'Schweres Wasser' (1965) and in the Sam Peckinpah-directed western Sierra Charriba (1965). He next showed up in Hawaii (1966) and played King Arthur in Camelot - Am Hofe König Arthurs (1967), a lackluster adaptation of the famous Broadway play. Better performances followed, among them a role as a reluctant police informer in Verflucht bis zum jüngsten Tag (1970) alongside Sir Sean Connery. Harris took the lead role in the violent western Ein Mann, den sie Pferd nannten (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 Bloomfield (1970); the western Bis zum letzten Atemzug (1973); the big-budget "disaster" film Achtzehn Stunden bis zur Ewigkeit (1974); the strangely-titled crime film König Ballermann (1974); with Connery again in Robin und Marian (1976); Gullivers Reisen (1977); a part in the Der weiße Hai (1975); Orca, der Killerwal (1977) and a nice turn as an ill-fated mercenary with Richard Burton and Roger Moore in the popular action film Die Wildgänse kommen (1978). The 1980s kicked off with Harris appearing in the silly Bo Derek vanity production Tarzan, Herr der Affen (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 Das Feld (1990). He then locked horns with Harrison Ford as an IRA sympathizer in Die Stunde der Patrioten (1992) and got one of his best roles as gunfighter English Bob in the Clint Eastwood western Erbarmungslos (1992). Harris was firmly back in vogue and rewarded his fans with more wonderful performances in Walter & Frank - Ein schräges Paar (1993); Cry, the Beloved Country (1995); The Great Kandinsky (1995) and This Is the Sea (1997). Further fortune came his way with a strong performance in the blockbuster Gladiator (2000) and he became known to an entirely new generation of film fans as Albus Dumbledore in the mega-successful Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen (2001) and Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens (2002). His final screen role was as "Lucius Sulla" in Julius Caesar (2002). Harris died of Hodgkin's disease, also known as Hodgkin's lymphoma, in London on October 25, 2002, aged 72. - IMDb Mini Biography By: [email protected]/[email protected]
