"Now that I'm 70 I can be eccentric and get away with it".
lol...
I thought he was an eccentric all his life, and could not care less what others thought ...
He was an unconvencional rebel and lived the way he wanted, at least that was my impression of him.
I had an Irish great uncle, who, according to my mother, he ended up in Argentina getting killed in a duel, the reason was never clear, (or not willing to acknowledge), the family always suspected it was due to some "skirts" -g- My mother showed me his picture, a bearded man with intense eyes... Richard Harris always reminded me of him
RH was 72... for some reason, I always thought he would live forever, as it always happens with those whom I appreciate and like.
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a small window of the time and life of Richard Harris...
In an interview last year, Harris told The Associated Press it was his young granddaughter, Ella, who persuaded him to play Professor Albus Dumbledore in last year's ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.'' He returns in the role in ``Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,'' which opens Nov. 15.
``She called me and said, `If you don't do it, papa, I'll never speak to you again,' and I thought, I can't afford that. I have to do it.''
The filmmakers asked Harris to sign on for adaptations of all seven of author J.K. Rowling's books, which he said he did reluctantly.
``I hate that kind of commitment. I hate the idea that my life in any way is sort of restricted.''
Twice divorced, he added, ``That's why my marriages broke up. I hate commitment, and I'm totally unreliable anyway.''
startribune.com
Harris always said he loved to act but hated to do it in films because of his disdain for movie stars. Although the critics generally had high praise for his acting, both onstage and onscreen, some seemed to suggest that Richard Harris the man - noted for his interest in pubs, strong spirits and women - was far more intriguing than most of the scripts he got.
Still, Harris won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award, both for his work in This Sporting Life (1963). Archer Winsten, writing in the New York Post, called it "a great, indelibly memorable performance" and Judith Crist described Harris as "an unforgettable figure" in the New York Herald Tribune.
His fellow actors couldn't forget him, either. He was portraying Dumbledore recently when he was reported as exploding in anger and expletives.
"What are you all worrying about?" he roared at the cast. "There's a war in the Middle East, there are floods all over England, and there are bombs being thrown all over the world. There is real life out there. This is all make-believe."
Earlier this year he told a reporter from The Mirror in London, "I have no friends in this business. I don't go to their clubs, don't go to their hangouts and don't mix at all. I am part of the business but I am apart from it. If anyone ever asks my advice, I tell them, 'Don't take yourself too seriously'."
theage.com.au
Away from the screen, he had a reputation of being a hellraiser - a heavy drinker who twice went bankrupt and was divorced. He underwent a reformation and acting resurrection in the early 1980s, when told he had 18 months to live if he did not stop drinking.
He responded by buying the rights to the stage production of "Camelot", touring the world with it for five years and becoming a multi-millionaire in the process.
Before entering hospital, Harris worked on the third Harry Potter film, "The Prisoner Of Ozkaban" while receiving chemotherapy treatment.
<snip>
Born in Limerick, southwest Ireland, on October 1, 1930, Harris was the fifth of eight children born into a middle-class staunchly Roman Catholic family. His father, Ivan, was a flour mill owner and the young Richard acquired a lifelong love for rugby and poetry.
As a rugby player, Harris was a formidable forward, representing his province Munster. He had high hopes of playing at international level until he was struck down with tuberculosis at the age of 19.
For more than two years he was largely confined to bed where he read prodigiously.
The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art accepted him as a pupil in 1953 and Harris stepped on to the London stage three years later.
news24.com
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Photos...
First... the pretty one from Connie Nielsen (Lucilla, Marcus Aurelius daughter in Gladiator) I really like this picture, I love that hair.... btw Nielsen, who is Danish, speaks 7 languages.
dunas.com
images.undergrounds.com
Now that we have seen beauty, we can see the ugly ones -g
Himself ( the early days)
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From the Mc Arthur's Park album
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King Arthur (Camelot)
imagehost.auctionwatch.com
Abbe Faria (Count of Monte Cristo)
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Marcus Aurelius (Gladiator)
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Professor Dumbledore (Harry Potter)
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Himself
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