Rex Harrison

Sir Reginald Carey "Rex" Harrison (5 March 1908 – 2 June 1990) was an English actor of stage and screen.

Harrison began his career on the stage in 1924. He won his first Tony Award for his performance as Henry VIII in Anne of the Thousand Days in 1949. He won his second Tony for the role of Professor Henry Higgins in the stage production of My Fair Lady in 1957. He reprised the role for the 1964 film version, which earned him a Golden Globe Award and Best Actor Oscar.

In addition to his stage career, Harrison also appeared in numerous films, includingAnna and the King of Siam (1946), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), Cleopatra (1963), and Doctor Dolittle (1967). In July 1989, Harrison was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

In 1975, Harrison released his first autobiography. His second, A Damned Serious Business: My Life in Comedy, was published posthumously in 1991.

Harrison was married a total of six times and had two sons: Noel and Carey Harrison. He continued working in stage productions until shortly before his death frompancreatic cancer in June 1990 at the age of 82.

Chronology of Harrison's six marriages:

• Colette Thomas, 1934–1942 (divorced); one son, the actor/singer Noel Harrison, (29 January 1934 – 19 October 2013)
• Lilli Palmer, 1943–1957 (divorced); one son, the novelist/playwright Carey Harrison
• Kay Kendall, 1957–1959 (her death)
• Rachel Roberts, 1962–1971 (divorced)
• Elizabeth Harris, 1971–1975 (divorced); three stepsons, Damian Harris, Jared Harris, and Jamie Harris
• Mercia Tinker, 1978–1990 (his death)

Youth and stage career

Harrison was born at Derry House in Huyton, Merseyside, the son of Edith Mary (née Carey) and William Reginald Harrison, a cotton broker. He was educated atLiverpool College. After a bout of childhood measles, Harrison lost most of the sight in his left eye, which on one occasion caused some on-stage difficulty. He first appeared on the stage in 1924 in Liverpool. Harrison's acting career was interrupted during World War II while serving in the Royal Air Force, reaching the rank of Flight Lieutenant. He acted in various stage productions until 11 May 1990. He acted in the West End of London when he was young, appearing in the Terence Rattigan playFrench Without Tears, which proved to be his breakthrough role.

He alternated appearances in London and New York in such plays as Bell, Book and Candle (1950), Venus Observed, The Cocktail Party, The Kingfisher and The Love of Four Colonels, which he also directed. He won his first Tony Award for his appearance as Henry VIII in Anne of the Thousand Days and international superstardom (and a second Tony Award) for his portrayal of Henry Higgins in the musical My Fair Lady, where he appeared opposite Julie Andrews.

Later appearances included Pirandello's Henry IV, a 1984 appearance at theHaymarket Theatre with Claudette Colbert in Frederick Lonsdale's Aren't We All?, and one on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre presented by Douglas Urbanski, at the Haymarket in J.M. Barrie's The Admirable Crichton with Edward Fox. He returned as Henry Higgins in the revival of My Fair Lady directed by Patrick Garland in 1981, cementing his association with the plays of George Bernard Shaw, which included aTony nominated performance as Shotover in Heartbreak House, Julius Caesar inCaesar and Cleopatra, and General Burgoyne in a Los Angeles production of The Devil's Disciple.

In film

Harrison's film debut was in The Great Game (1930), other notable early films include The Citadel (1938), Night Train to Munich(1940), Major Barbara (1941), Blithe Spirit (1945), Anna and the King of Siam (1946), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), and The Foxes of Harrow (1947). He was best known for his portrayal of Professor Henry Higgins in the 1964 film version of My Fair Ladybased on the Broadway production of the same name, which was based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion) for which Harrison won a Best Actor Oscar.

He also starred in 1967's Doctor Dolittle. At the height of his box office clout after the success of My Fair Lady, Harrison proved a domineering and demanding force during production, demanding auditions for prospective composers after musical playwright Leslie Bricusse was contracted and demanding to have his singing recorded live during shooting, only to agree to have it rerecorded in post-production. He also disrupted production with incidents with his wife, Rachel Roberts and deliberate misbehaviour, such as when he deliberately moved his yacht in front of cameras during shooting in St. Lucia and refused to move it out of sight due to contract disputes. Harrison was at one point temporarily replaced by Christopher Plummer, until he agreed to be more cooperative.

He starred in the 1968 comedy The Honey Pot, a modern adaptation of Ben Jonson's play Volpone. Two of his co-stars, Maggie Smith and Cliff Robertson, were to become lifelong friends. Both spoke at his New York City memorial at the Little Church Around the Corner when Harrison died in 1990.

Harrison was not by any objective standards a singer (his talking on pitch style he used in My Fair Lady would be adopted by many other classically trained actors with limited vocal ranges); the music was usually written to allow for long periods of recitative, or "speaking to the music." Nevertheless, "Talk to the Animals", which Harrison performed in Doctor Dolittle, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1967.

Despite excelling in comedy (Noël Coward described him as "The best light comedy actor in the world—except for me.") he attracted favourable notices in dramatic roles such as his portrayal of Julius Caesar in Cleopatra (1963) and as Pope Julius II in The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965), opposite Charlton Heston as Michelangelo. He also acted in a Hindi film Shalimar alongside Indian Bollywood star Dharmendra as well as appearing as an aging homosexual man opposite Richard Burton as his lover in Staircase(1969).

Harrison as Julius Caesar in the filmCleopatra for which he was nominated for an Academy Award.

Personal life

Harrison was married six times. In 1942, he divorced his first wife, Colette Thomas, and married actress Lilli Palmer the next year; the two later appeared together in numerous plays and films, including The Fourposter.

In 1947, while married to Palmer, Harrison began an affair with actress Carole Landis. Landis committed suicide in 1948 after spending the evening with Harrison. Harrison's involvement in the scandal by waiting several hours before calling a doctor and police briefly damaged his career and his contract with Fox was ended by mutual consent.

1957 Harrison married the actress Kay Kendall. Kendall died of Myeloid leukemia in 1959.

Terence Rattigan's 1973 play In Praise of Love was written about the end of this marriage, with Harrison appearing in the New York production playing the character based on himself. Rattigan was said to be "intensely disappointed and frustrated" by Harrison's performance, as "Harrison refused to play the outwardly boorish parts of the character and instead played him as charming throughout, signalling to the audience from the start that he knew the truth about [the] illness."

He was subsequently married to Welsh-born actress Rachel Roberts from 1962 to 1971. After a final attempt to win Harrison back proved futile, Roberts committed suicide in 1980.

Harrison then married Elizabeth Rees-Williams, divorcing in 1975, and finally in 1978, Mercia Tinker, who would become his sixth and final wife.

Chronology of Harrison's six marriages

• Colette Thomas, 1934–1942 (divorced); one son, the actor/singer Noel Harrison
• Lilli Palmer, 1943–1957 (divorced); one son, the novelist/playwright Carey Harrison
• Kay Kendall, 1957–1959 (her death)
• Rachel Roberts, 1962–1971 (divorced)
• Elizabeth Harris, 1971–1975 (divorced); three stepsons, Damian Harris, Jared Harris, and Jamie Harris
• Mercia Tinker, 1978–1990 (his death)

Grandchildren

• Granddaughters: Cathryn, Harriott, Chloe, Chiara, Rosie, Faith
• Grandsons: Will, Simon, Sam

Harrison owned properties in London, New York and Portofino, Italy. His villa in Portofino was named San Genesio after the patron saint of actors.

Later career and death

Having retired from films after the 1982 picture A Time to Die, Harrison continued to act on Broadway and the West End until the end of his life, despite suffering from glaucoma, painful teeth, and a failing memory. He was nominated for a third Tony Award in 1984 for his performance as Captain Shotover in the revival of George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House. He followed the show up with two successful pairings with Claudette Colbert, The Kingfisher in 1985, and Aren't We All? in 1986. In 1989, he appeared withEdward Fox in The Admirable Crichton in London. In 1989-1990, he appeared on Broadway in The Circle by W. Somerset Maugham, opposite Glynis Johns and Stewart Granger. The production actually opened at Duke University for a three-week run followed by performances in Baltimore and Boston before opening 14 November 1989 on Broadway.

Harrison died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Manhattan on 2 June 1990 at the age of 82. He had only been diagnosed with the disease for a short time. The stage production in which he was appearing at the time, The Circle, came to an end upon his death.

Harrison's second autobiography, A Damned Serious Business: My Life in Comedy (ISBN 0553073419), was published posthumously in 1991.

Honours and legacy

On 25 July 1989, Harrison was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace as an orchestra played the music of songs from My Fair Lady.

Rex Harrison has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one at 6906 Hollywood Boulevard for his contribution to films, and the other at 6380 Hollywood Boulevard for his contribution to television.

Due to his association with the checked wool hat, which he wore both in the Broadway and film versions of My Fair Lady, that style of headware was officially named "The Rex Harrison." The 1985 teen comedy Weird Science would affirm this association when the main character, Lisa, would admonish a party crasher with the line "You ought to know better than to walk into somebody's house and start hitting people with your Rex Harrison hat!"

Seth MacFarlane, creator of the animated series Family Guy, modeled the voice of the character Stewie Griffin after Harrison, after seeing him in the film adaptation of My Fair Lady.

Theatre work

Highlights

• French Without Tears
• Sweet Aloes
• Design for Living
• Venus Observed
• The Cocktail Party
• Bell, Book and Candle
• The Fourposter
• Anne of the Thousand Days
• The Devil's Disciple
• The Love of Four Colonels
• My Fair Lady
• In Praise of Love
• Caesar and Cleopatra
• Heartbreak House
• Pirandello's Henry IV
• Aren't We All?
• The Kingfisher
• The Admirable Crichton
• The Circle

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes

1930 The Great Game George  

1934 Get Your Man Tom Jakes  

1934 Leave It to Blanche Ronnie  

1935 All at Sea Aubrey Bellingham  

1936 Men Are Not Gods Tommy Stapleton  

1937 Storm in a Teacup Frank Burdon  

1937 School for Husbands Leonard Drummond  

1938 Sidewalks of London Harley Prentiss Alternative title: St. Martin's Lane

1938 The Citadel Dr. Frederick Lawford  

1939 Over the Moon Dr. Freddie Jarvis  

1939 The Silent Battle Jacques Sauvin  

1940 Night Train to Munich Gus Bennett Alternative titles: Gestapo Night Train

1940 Ten Days in Paris Bob Stevens  

1941 Major Barbara Adolphus Cusins  

1945 Blithe Spirit Charles Condomine  

1945 I Live in Grosvenor Square Major David Bruce Alternative title: A Yank in London

1945 Journey Together Guest  

1945 The Rake's Progress Vivian Kenway Alternative title: Notorious Gentleman

1946 Anna and the King of Siam King Mongkut  

1947 The Ghost and Mrs. Muir Captain Daniel Gregg  

1947 The Foxes of Harrow Stephen Fox  

1948 Escape Matt Denant  

1948 Unfaithfully Yours Sir Alfred De Carter  

1951 The Long Dark Hall Arthur Groome  

1952 The Four Poster John Edwards  

1954 King Richard and the Crusaders Emir Hderim Sultan Saladin  

1955 The Constant Husband William Egerton Alternative title: Marriage a la Mode

1958 The Reluctant Debutante Jimmy Broadbent  

1960 Midnight Lace Anthony "Tony" Preston  

1962 The Happy Thieves Jimmy Bourne  

1963 Cleopatra Julius Caesar  

1964 My Fair Lady Professor Henry Higgins  

1964 The Yellow Rolls-Royce Lord Charles Frinton - TheMarquess of Frinton  

1965 The Agony and the Ecstasy Pope Julius II  

1967 The Honey Pot Cecil Sheridan Fox Alternative titles: It Comes Up Murder The Honeypot Mr. Fox of Venice

1967 Doctor Dolittle Dr. John Dolittle  

1968 A Flea in Her Ear Victor Chandebisse/Poche  

1969 Staircase Charles Dyer  

1977 Crossed Swords The Duke of Norfolk Alternative title: The Prince and the Pauper

1978 Shalimar Sir John Locksley Alternative titles: Deadly Thief, Raiders of Shalimar,Raiders of the Sacred Stone

1979 Ashanti Brian Walker Alternative title: Ashanti, Land of No Mercy

1979 The Fifth Musketeer Colbert Alternative titles: Behind the Iron Mask The 5th Musketeer

1981 Titanic in a Tub: The Golden Age of Toy Boats Narrator  

1982 A Time to Die Van Osten Alternative title: Seven Graves for Rogan