---
name: "Richard Harris"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/richard-harris"
fi1m_id: "richard-harris"
imdb_id: "nm0001321"
tmdb_id: 194
wikidata_id: "Q106775"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "1 October 1930"
died: "25 October 2002"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 8
average_fi1m_score: 66
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 8
updated: "2026-10-04T21:59:41.326626+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Richard Harris

## Identity

Richard Harris

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/richard-harris
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** richard-harris
- **IMDb ID:** nm0001321
- **TMDB ID:** 194
- **Wikidata ID:** Q106775
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Harris, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q106775, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001321/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/194

Actor. Born 1 October 1930 in Limerick City, Munster, Ireland. Died 25 October 2002.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 1 October 1930, Limerick City, Munster, Ireland
- **Died:** 25 October 2002
- **Active:** 1961–2002
- **Also known as:** Richard St. John Harris
- **Frequently works with:** [Chris Columbus](https://film.one/person/chris-columbus.md), [Daniel Radcliffe](https://film.one/person/daniel-radcliffe.md), [David Heyman](https://film.one/person/david-heyman.md), [Emma Watson](https://film.one/person/emma-watson.md), [Rupert Grint](https://film.one/person/rupert-grint.md), [Steve Kloves](https://film.one/person/steve-kloves.md)
- **Golden Globes:** 1 Golden Globe (1 won · 1 nominated)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 66, as actor, over 8 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1960s 65 (2), 1980s 30 (1), 1990s 76 (2), 2000s 72 (3)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 74 to 69 across 6 titles
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 4 at 60–79, 2 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 1 of 8 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Adventure 6, Drama 4, Action 3, Fantasy 2, Comedy 1, Crime 1
- **Screen time:** 20 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $2,788m across 8 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Harris, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q106775, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001321/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/194

## Streaming the US now

- **Hulu:** [*Gladiator*](https://film.one/film/gladiator.md) (84), [*Patriot Games*](https://film.one/film/patriot-games.md) (61)
- **HBO Max:** [*Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*](https://film.one/film/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone.md) (68), [*Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*](https://film.one/film/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets.md) (65)
- **Netflix:** [*The Guns of Navarone*](https://film.one/film/the-guns-of-navarone.md) (74)
- **Tubi:** [*Mutiny on the Bounty*](https://film.one/film/mutiny-on-the-bounty-1962.md) (56)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Richard Harris

> Richard Harris was a big man with a voice built for the back of the stalls, and he never learned to use it quietly. That was his gift in the 1960s and his weakness for years after, until age turned the noise into authority.

Put Richard Harris in a scene and the furniture seems to shrink. He was a large man with a voice that carried without trying, and he did not so much say lines as announce them. In his twenties and thirties, that made him one of the most physical actors of the British New Wave. In his sixties, the same voice, slowed and lowered, made him the natural choice whenever a film needed an emperor or a wise old man to lend it weight.

He started on stage in the mid-1950s, with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop among others, and was on screen from 1958. The breakthrough was *This Sporting Life* (1963), for Lindsay Anderson, as Frank Machin: a raw, bruising piece of acting that still shows what he could do when he had a whole film to himself. *Camelot* (1967), as King Arthur, and *A Man Called Horse* made him an international name. The trouble was that the intensity had no dimmer switch. Through the 1970s and 1980s he was too often the loudest thing in a film that needed something quieter, and the films themselves were frequently not worth the effort he put into them. The 1980s were quiet.

The revival came with *The Field* (1990), for Jim Sheridan, as Bull McCabe, a role that gave the old force somewhere to go. After it he settled into the kind of supporting part where the voice does most of the work: English Bob in Clint Eastwood's *Unforgiven* (1992), and Marcus Aurelius in Ridley Scott's *Gladiator* (2000). Neither film is his. Our review of *Unforgiven* belongs to Eastwood and our review of *Gladiator* to Russell Crowe, and neither stops to single him out. But we will admit that in *Gladiator* we were more moved by the old emperor than we expected to be by a man whose job is to set up the plot, and it was the tiredness Harris put under the dignity that did it. His last major role was Albus Dumbledore in *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* (2001), which handed him to a generation who had never seen him young. He died in 2002.

Start with *This Sporting Life* if you want to know what the fuss was about, and go to *Unforgiven* to see how well the instrument lasted, in a film good enough to hold it. Between the two lie twenty years of films that did not deserve him, which is a common story for an actor of his size and a rarer one for an actor this good.

## Biography

Richard Harris (1930–2002) was an Irish actor. Born in Limerick, he trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and worked in stage productions before his film debut in the late 1950s.

He received Academy Award nominations for *This Sporting Life* (1963) and *The Field* (1990). Later roles included English Bob in *Unforgiven* (1992), Marcus Aurelius in *Gladiator* (2000), and Albus Dumbledore in *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* (2001) and *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (2002).

Harris also recorded the hit song "MacArthur Park" in 1968.

*Sources: imdb.com, britannica.com, dib.ie.*

## On Fi1m (8)

- *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (2002), Fi1m 65, as Albus Dumbledore — [page](https://film.one/film/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets.md)
- *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* (2001), Fi1m 68, as Albus Dumbledore — [page](https://film.one/film/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone.md)
- *Gladiator* (2000), Fi1m 84, as Marcus Aurelius — [page](https://film.one/film/gladiator.md)
- *Patriot Games* (1992), Fi1m 61, as Paddy O'Neil — [page](https://film.one/film/patriot-games.md)
- *Unforgiven* (1992), Fi1m 92, as English Bob — [page](https://film.one/film/unforgiven.md)
- *Tarzan the Ape Man* (1981), Fi1m 30, as James Porter — [page](https://film.one/film/tarzan-the-ape-man.md)
- *Mutiny on the Bounty* (1962), Fi1m 56, as Seaman John Mills — [page](https://film.one/film/mutiny-on-the-bounty-1962.md)
- *The Guns of Navarone* (1961), Fi1m 74, as Squadron Leader Howard Barnsby RAAF — [page](https://film.one/film/the-guns-of-navarone.md)

## Complete filmography (78)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Exterior Day* (2022), Actor
- *The Apocalypse* (2004), as John
- *The Heroes of Telemark: Location report from Norway* (2003), Actor
- *Julius Caesar* (2002), series, as Lucius Silla
- *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (2002), as Albus Dumbledore — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/film/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets.md)
- *Arthur: King of the Britons* (2002), as Presenter
- *The Count of Monte Cristo* (2002), as Abbé Faria
- *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* (2001), as Albus Dumbledore — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/film/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone.md)
- *My Kingdom* (2001), as Sandeman
- *The Pearl* (2001), as Dr. Karl
- *Bette* (2000), series, Actor
- *Gladiator* (2000), as Marcus Aurelius — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/gladiator.md)
- *Grizzly Falls* (1999), as Old Harry
- *To Walk with Lions* (1999), as George Adamson
- *The Barber of Siberia* (1998), as Douglas McCraken
- *This Is the Sea* (1997), as Old Man Jacobs
- *The Hunchback* (1997), as Dom Frollo
- *Smilla's Sense of Snow* (1997), as Dr. Andreas Tork
- *Trojan Eddie* (1996), as John Power
- *Cry, the Beloved Country* (1995), as James Jarvis
- *The Great Kandinsky* (1995), as Ernest Kandinsky
- *Savage Hearts* (1995), as Sir Roger Foxley
- *Silent Tongue* (1994), as Prescott Roe
- *Wrestling Ernest Hemingway* (1993), as Frank
- *Abraham* (1993), as Abraham
- *Abraham* (1993), series, as Abraham
- *Unforgiven* (1992), as English Bob — Fi1m 92, [page](https://film.one/film/unforgiven.md)
- *Patriot Games* (1992), as Paddy O'Neil — Fi1m 61, [page](https://film.one/film/patriot-games.md)
- *The Field* (1990), as 'Bull' McCabe
- *King of the Wind* (1990), as King George II
- *Mack the Knife* (1989), as Mr. Peachum
- *Strike Commando 2* (1988), as Major Vic Jenkins
- *Maigret* (1988), as Jules Maigret
- *Martin's Day* (1985), as Martin Steckert
- *Highpoint* (1984), as Lewis Kinney
- *Triumphs of a Man Called Horse* (1983), as John Morgan - Man Called Horse
- *Camelot* (1982), as King Arthur
- *Your Ticket Is No Longer Valid* (1981), as Jason
- *Tarzan the Ape Man* (1981), as James Porter — Fi1m 30, [page](https://film.one/film/tarzan-the-ape-man.md)
- *Russell Harty* (1980), series, Actor
- *The Last Word* (1979), as Danny Travis
- *Ravagers* (1979), as Falk
- *Game for Vultures* (1979), as David Swansey
- *The Wild Geese* (1978), as Capt. Rafer Janders
- *Golden Rendezvous* (1977), as John Carter
- *Orca* (1977), as Captain Nolan
- *Gulliver's Travels* (1977), as Gulliver
- *The Cassandra Crossing* (1976), as Dr. Jonathan Chamberlain
- *The Return of a Man Called Horse* (1976), as John Morgan / Horse · Executive Producer
- *Robin and Marian* (1976), as Richard the Lionheart / King Richard
- *Echoes of a Summer* (1976), as Eugene
- *Juggernaut* (1974), as Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Fallon
- *99 and 44/100% Dead* (1974), as Harry Crown
- *The Deadly Trackers* (1973), as Sheriff Sean Kilpatrick
- *Man in the Wilderness* (1971), as Zachary Bass
- *The Snow Goose* (1971), as Philip Rhayadar
- *Bloomfield* (1970), as Eitan · Director, Screenplay
- *Cromwell* (1970), as Oliver Cromwell
- *A Man Called Horse* (1970), as John Morgan
- *The Molly Maguires* (1970), as James McKenna
- *Return of the Islander* (1970), as Narrator (voice)
- *Camelot* (1967), as King Arthur
- *Caprice* (1967), as Christopher White
- *Hawaii* (1966), as Rafer Hoxworth
- *The Bible: In the Beginning...* (1966), as Cain
- *The Heroes of Telemark* (1965), as Knut Straud
- *Major Dundee* (1965), as Captain Benjamin Tyreen
- *The Three Faces* (1965), as Robert (segment "Gli amanti celebri")
- *Red Desert* (1964), as Corrado Zeller
- *This Sporting Life* (1963), as Frank Machin
- *Mutiny on the Bounty* (1962), as Seaman John Mills — Fi1m 56, [page](https://film.one/film/mutiny-on-the-bounty-1962.md)
- *The Guns of Navarone* (1961), as Squadron Leader Howard Barnsby RAAF — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/the-guns-of-navarone.md)
- *The Long and the Short and the Tall* (1961), as Cpl. Johnstone
- *A Terrible Beauty* (1960), as Sean Reilly
- *The Wreck of the Mary Deare* (1959), as Higgins
- *Alive and Kicking* (1959), as Lover
- *Shake Hands with the Devil* (1959), as Terence O'Brien
- *Hallmark Hall of Fame* (1951), series, as Philip Rhayadar

## Gallery

- ![Richard Harris](https://film.one/media/person/79895/gallery-b360493a147e.jpg) Richard Harris — City of Boston Archives, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/Richard_Harris_1985_%281%29.jpg/1280px-Richard_Harris_1985_%281%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Second page of an ABC Records advertisement in Billboard magazine (issue 11 May 1968), listing several contemporary releases: - Guy Marks "Loving You Had Made M](https://film.one/media/person/79895/gallery-48779fc21399.png) Second page of an ABC Records advertisement in Billboard magazine (issue 11 May 1968), listing several contemporary releases: - Guy Marks "Loving You Had Made M — ABC Records, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/ABC_Records_advertisement_-_Billboard_%2811_May_1968%29.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![The album cover has no notice affixed. The back label, on which the publisher clearly intended to state ownership, reads DUNHILL RECORDS INC/NEW YORK-BEVERLY HI (1968)](https://film.one/media/person/79895/gallery-23d6e4440c5f.png) The album cover has no notice affixed. The back label, on which the publisher clearly intended to state ownership, reads DUNHILL RECORDS INC/NEW YORK-BEVERLY HI (1968) — Dunhill/ABC Records, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/A_Tramp_Shining.png/1280px-A_Tramp_Shining.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Title: Mayor Raymond L. Flynn presenting proclamation for "Camelot Day" to Actor Richard Harris Creator: Mayor's Office - City Photographer Date: 1985 Source: M (2013)](https://film.one/media/person/79895/gallery-dd855602b58f.jpg) Title: Mayor Raymond L. Flynn presenting proclamation for "Camelot Day" to Actor Richard Harris Creator: Mayor's Office - City Photographer Date: 1985 Source: M (2013) — City of Boston Archives, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Boston_Mayor_Raymond_Flynn_with_Richard_Harris_1985.jpg/1280px-Boston_Mayor_Raymond_Flynn_with_Richard_Harris_1985.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Richard Harris](https://film.one/media/person/79895/gallery-723bc03d551c.jpg) Richard Harris — Image via TMDB
- ![Richard Harris](https://film.one/media/person/79895/gallery-39ef5bfa6e3a.jpg) Richard Harris — Image via TMDB
- ![Richard Harris](https://film.one/media/person/79895/gallery-d104ded69461.jpg) Richard Harris — Image via TMDB
- ![Title: Mayor Raymond L. Flynn presenting proclamation for "Camelot Day" to Actor Richard Harris Creator: Mayor's Office - City Photographer Date: 1985 Source: M (2013)](https://film.one/media/person/79895/gallery-4bf79719b33d.jpg) Title: Mayor Raymond L. Flynn presenting proclamation for "Camelot Day" to Actor Richard Harris Creator: Mayor's Office - City Photographer Date: 1985 Source: M (2013) — City of Boston Archives from West Roxbury, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Mayor_Raymond_L._Flynn_presenting_proclamation_for_%22Camelot_Day%22_to_Actor_Richard_Harris_%289516895079%29.jpg/1280px-Mayor_Raymond_L._Flynn_presenting_proclamation_for_%22Camelot_Day%22_to_Actor_Richard_Harris_%289516895079%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Title: Mayor Raymond L. Flynn presenting proclamation for "Camelot Day" to Actor Richard Harris Creator: Mayor's Office - City Photographer Date: circa 1984-198 (2013)](https://film.one/media/person/79895/gallery-1946505a27c5.jpg) Title: Mayor Raymond L. Flynn presenting proclamation for "Camelot Day" to Actor Richard Harris Creator: Mayor's Office - City Photographer Date: circa 1984-198 (2013) — City of Boston Archives from West Roxbury, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Mayor_Raymond_L._Flynn_presenting_proclamation_for_%22Camelot_Day%22_to_Actor_Richard_Harris_%289519682934%29.jpg/1280px-Mayor_Raymond_L._Flynn_presenting_proclamation_for_%22Camelot_Day%22_to_Actor_Richard_Harris_%289519682934%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Richard Harris](https://film.one/media/person/79895/gallery-88ba133eb290.jpg) Richard Harris — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 2 nominated

- 1991: Best Actor (nominated), for *The Field*
- 1964: Best Actor (nominated), for *This Sporting Life*

### Golden Globes — 1 won, 1 nominated

- 1990: Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (nominated), for *The Field*
- 1967: Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (won), for *Camelot*

### SAG Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 2001: Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (nominated), for *Gladiator*

### Cannes Film Festival — 1 won

- 1963: Best Actor (won), for *This Sporting Life*

### Other awards — 3 won, 6 nominated

- British Independent Film Awards 2002: British Independent Film Award – The Richard Harris Award (won)
- British Independent Film Awards 2002: Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film (nominated), for *My Kingdom*
- European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award 2000: European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award (won)
- Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor 1991: Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor (nominated)
- Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor 1982: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor (nominated), for *Tarzan, the Ape Man*
- Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy 1979: Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy (nominated)
- Grammy Award for Best Audio Book, Narration & Storytelling Recording 1973: Grammy Award for Best Audio Book, Narration & Storytelling Recording (won), for *Jonathan Livingston Seagull*
- Grammy Award for Album of the Year 1968: Grammy Award for Album of the Year (nominated), for *A Tramp Shining*
- Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance 1968: Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance (nominated)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/richard-harris