Richard St John Francis Harris, an Irish actor and singer, was born on October 1, 1930, and passed away on October 25, 2002. He had a remarkable career, appearing on stage and in numerous films, including notable roles such as Corrado Zeller in Michelangelo Antonioni's Red Desert, Frank Machin in This Sporting Life, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and as King Arthur in the 1967 film Camelot, as well as the 1981 revival of the stage musical.
He also played an English aristocrat captured by the Sioux in A Man Called Horse (1970),Oliver Cromwell in Cromwell (1970),an embattled Irish farmer in Jim Sheridan's The Field, which earned him a second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, English Bob in Clint Eastwood's revisionist Western Unforgiven (1992),Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius in Gladiator (2000),The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) as Abbé Faria, and Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002),which was his final film role.
In addition to his acting career, Harris had a successful music career, having a number-one singing hit in Australia, Jamaica, and Canada, and a top-ten hit in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States with his 1968 recording of Jimmy Webb's song "MacArthur Park". In 2020, he was listed at number 3 on The Irish Times's list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
