Actor Richard Harris Dies
By Barry Willis October 27, 2002 — The film community is mourning the death of actor Richard Harris, who passed away Friday, October 25 at London's University College Hospital, where he was being treated for Hodgkin's disease. He was 72.

A veteran of more than 80 films who was twice nominated for the Academy Award for best actor, the Irish-born Harris most recently appeared in Warner Brothers' Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, as the wizard Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts school. Prior to that, he appeared as emperor Marcus Aurelius in Gladiator. Harris will make a posthumous appearance as Dumbledore in the next installment in the Potter series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, scheduled to open November 15. Filming had been completed before Harris checked into the hospital. He began to feel ill earlier this year.

Harris began his acting career at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1956, at the age of 26. He won his first Oscar nomination seven years later for 1963's This Sporting Life, in which he portrayed a rugby player. That performance won him a Best Actor award at the 1963 Cannes film festival. His second Oscar nomination for best actor was for his role as a subsistence farmer in 1990's The Field, for which he also received a Golden Globe nomination. Harris had major roles in Major Dundee, Hawaii, Camelot, The Molly Maguires, A Man Called Horse, and Cromwell.

"Warner Bros. extends our deep and heartfelt condolences to the family of Richard Harris, who has made so many unforgettable contributions to the world of motion pictures, most recently in the role of Professor Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter movies," said Warner CEO Barry Meyer and president Alan Horn in a joint statement. "We will miss his presence and will treasure our memories of him."

Harris is survived by three sons, Damian, Jarid, and Jamie Harris, from his first marriage, to Elizabeth Rees-Williams.

A complete Harris filmography can be viewed here.