Richard Harris was an Irish actor and singer who began his career on stage and made his film debut with the 1959 film 'Alive and Kicking'. Two of his best roles are Frank Machin in 'This Sporting Life' (1963) – for which he won the 'Best Actor Award' at Cannes and received an 'Academy Award' nomination, and 'Bull' McCabe in 'The Field' (1990) – which earned him nominations for another 'Academy Award' and a 'Golden Globe'. He won a 'Golden Globe' for portraying King Arthur in the 1967 musical comedy-drama film 'Camelot'.
His early filmography consisted of the Italian film 'Il Deserto Rosso' (1964), the British war film 'The Heroes of Telemark' (1965), the Hollywood film 'Major Dundee' (1965), 'The Bible: In the Beginning...' (1966), the epic drama film 'Hawaii' (1966) and the spy spoof comedy, 'Caprice' (1967). In 1970, his film 'The Molly Maguires' (1970) was a box-office failure, while 'A Man Called Horse' (1970) was a hugely successful film. His later film career was unimpressive despite roles in many action movies. In recent times, he played Marcus Aurelius in the 'Oscar'-winning film 'Gladiator' (2000) and Albus Dumbledore in the first two installments of the top grossing 'Harry Potter' franchise.