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01
He died shortly before the U.S. premiere of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 2002.
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02
Producers initially hesitated to cast him as King Arthur in Camelot 1967 due to his limited singing ability. Harris insisted on singing live and later enjoyed a pop career, touring America in 1972.
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03
Harris turned down the role of Commodus in The Fall of the Roman Empire 1964 and later played Commodus’s father, Marcus Aurelius, in Gladiator 2000.
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04
Once, while living in England, he saw a newspaper that Young Munster were playing in Limerick, flew to Ireland, and went on a three-week drinking binge without telling his wife. When he returned, he rang the doorbell and said, ‘Well, why didn’t you pay the ransom?
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05
Harris, Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton were drinking partners from the 1960s until O’Toole stopped in 1978.
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06
Despite initial reluctance to accept the role of Albus Dumbledore, he agreed at the urging of his granddaughter. During post-production on Chamber of Secrets, he begged producer David Heyman not to recast him, but died weeks later.
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07
He was knighted by Denmark in 1985.
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08
Concerning his role as Dumbledore, Harris said his 11-year-old granddaughter threatened never to speak to him again if he didn’t take it.
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09
Harris appeared in four Best Picture Oscar nominees: The Guns of Navarone 1961, Mutiny on the Bounty 1962, Unforgiven 1992, and Gladiator 2000; the latter two won.
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10
He befriended Russell Crowe while filming Gladiator 2000.
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11
An avid American football fan, his favorite team was the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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12
Mickey Rourke dedicated his 2009 BAFTA award for Best Actor to Harris, calling him a good friend and great actor.
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13
He was a talented rugby player in his youth, remembered in Limerick for his tackling ability.
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14
His ashes were scattered at his home in the Bahamas.
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15
He nearly died from alcoholism in 1981 and was given last rites by a Roman Catholic priest.
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16
For the last 12 years of his life, he lived in Room 758 at the Savoy Hotel in London, having it cleaned only once a week.
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17
After his death, many family members wanted Peter O’Toole to take over as Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 2004.
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18
On The Tonight Show, he told a story about sabotaging a Macbeth performance when the lead actor insulted his Irish heritage. He replaced The queen, my lord, is dead with ‘Oh, don’t worry. She’s fine. She’ll be up and about in ten minutes. He was fired.
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19
His younger brother Dermot married actress Cassandra Harris; after Dermot’s death, she married Pierce Brosnan.
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20
An alcoholic, he gave up drinking in 1981 and resumed with Guinness a decade later.
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21
He enjoyed a friendly rivalry with Oliver Reed; Reed called himself Mr. England, Harris Mr. Ireland.
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22
In his youth he was a Marlon Brando fan but later blamed Brando for the over-budget Mutiny on the Bounty 1962.
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23
By the time he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease in August 2002, it was too advanced to treat.
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24
In 1954 he punched through a shop window to steal a sign that read No Irishmen or black need to apply and kept it for life.
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25
He did not enjoy his first Hollywood film, The Wreck of the Mary Deare 1959, due to Gary Cooper’s frequent illness.
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26
Father of director Damian Harris and actors Jared Harris and Jamie Harris.
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27
In a 2001 interview, he expressed concern that his association with Harry Potter would outshine his career: ‘I don’t just want to be remembered for being in those bloody films’.
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28
After giving up alcohol in the 1970s, he put a bottle of vodka in every room of his house but didn’t touch a drop.
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29
He hated making Caprice 1967 with Doris Day so much that he never watched it; once he saw it was the in-flight movie and got off the plane.
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30
A bronze life-size statue of Harris playing squash was unveiled in Kilkee in 2006 by Russell Crowe. Harris won the Tivoli Cup four years in a row from 1948 to 1951.
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31
He greatly enjoyed working with Gene Hackman and Clint Eastwood on Unforgiven, describing Hackman as a truly dangerous and intimidating actor.
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32
He was considered for Mr. Banks in Mary Poppins 1964 and for Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings.
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33
He was the first to record Jimmy Webb’s Macarthur Park and scored a top ten hit in the US and UK in 1968.
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34
He had a fascination with authority figures and portrayed King Arthur, Oliver Cromwell, Richard the Lionheart, Marcus Aurelius, and Albus Dumbledore.
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35
A member of the Roman Catholic Knights of Malta and knighted by Denmark in 1985.
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36
He won the 1990 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor for his performance in Henry IV.
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37
One of nine children born to Limerick farmer Ivan Harris and Mildred Harty.
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38
Originally cast in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever 1970 but quit due to disagreements with Barbra Streisand.
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39
A bout of tuberculosis ended his ambition to be a professional rugby player.
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40
He and Patrick Bergin were two of the only Irish actors to play Irishmen in Patriot Games 1992.
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41
As a youth he admired John Wayne and Gary Cooper but later called them pantomime cowboys.
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42
Member of the Royal Shakespeare Company since the early 1960s; last performed on the Swan stage in the mid-1990s.
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43
Received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Scranton in 1987.
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44
He had such a miserable time on Mutiny on the Bounty 1962 that he refused to attend the premiere, calling the shoot nightmarish and the film a total fucking disaster.
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45
Became a born-again Catholic after his brother Dermot died from alcoholism in 1985.
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46
His casting as Oliver Cromwell was deemed odd due to his Irish patriotism, but he took the role for the money and admired Cromwell’s democratic impact.
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47
First Harry Potter film series cast member to die; fittingly, he was the first character to appear on screen in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
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48
He said he gave up drugs after almost overdosing on cocaine in 1978.
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49
He paid £75,000 for William Burges’ Tower House in Holland Park in 1968, outbidding Liberace, and restored it with original decorators.
