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Rex Harrison

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Rex Harrison
Rex Harrison pictured in 1947
Born
Reginald Carey Harrison
OccupationActor
Years active1930–1982
Spouse(s)Colette Thomas (1934-1942)
Lilli Palmer (1943-1957)
Kay Kendall (1957-1959)
Rachel Roberts (1962-1971)
Elizabeth Harris (1971-1975)
Mercia Tinker (1978-1990)

Sir Reginald “Rex” Carey Harrison (5 March 1908 – 2 June 1990) was an English actor of stage and screen, who won both an Oscar and Tony Award.

Youth and stage career

Harrison was born in Huyton, then part of Lancashire, and educated at Liverpool College.[1] He first appeared on the stage in 1924 in Liverpool. Harrison's acting career was interrupted during World War II whilst he served in the Royal Air Force, reaching the rank of Flight Lieutenant.[2] He acted in various stage productions until May 11, 1990. He acted in the West End of London when he was young, appearing in the Terence Rattigan play French Without Tears, which proved to be his breakthrough role.

He alternated appearances in London and New York, winning a Tony Award for his appearance as Henry VIII in Anne of the Thousand Days and international superstardom (and a second Tony Award) for his Henry Higgins in the musical My Fair Lady. Later appearances included 's Pirandello's Enrico IV, a 1984 appearance at the Haymarket 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 a highly paid revival of My Fair Lady in 1981, cementing his association with the plays of George Bernard Shaw which included a Tony nominated performance as Shotover in Heartbreak House, Julius Caesar in Caesar and Cleopatra, and General Burgoyne in a Los Angeles production of The Devil's Disciple... 

In film

Harrison as Julius Caesar in the film Cleopatra, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award.

Harrison's film debut was in The Great Game (1930), and 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 musical My Fair Lady, based on the George Bernard Shaw play Pygmalion, especially after he reprised the role in the 1964 film version, for which he won a Best Actor Oscar. The 1956 cast album set sales records at the time. He revived the role on stage in the early 1980s. He also starred in 1967's Doctor Dolittle. Harrison was not by general terms a singer; thus, the music was generally written to allow for long periods of recitative, generally identified as "speaking to the music". Although excelling in comedy (Noel Coward described him thus: "the best light comedy actor in the world-except for me."[3]), 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 appeared as an aging homosexual man opposite Richard Burton as his lover in Staircase. He also acted in a Hindi movie Shalimar alongside the Indian superstar Dharmendra.

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. According to Alexander Walker's highly acclaimed biography of Harrison, there was some question as to whether he may have been bisexual, although most of his friends said they doubted it.

In 1947, while married to Palmer, Harrison began an affair with Carole Landis, a fact that eventually became public knowledge. Landis committed suicide in 1948 after spending the night with Harrison. He later admitted that on discovering her in the morning on the bathroom floor he had felt a pulse, but instead of immediately calling an ambulance he simply left the house via the back door. He returned later that day but the maid had since discovered Landis and the police were present, Landis was by this time dead. A few days later, in exchange for 500 dollars, a policeman offered Harrison a "highly compromising" suicide note that Landis had written which Harrison bought and destroyed. Palmer said the note was about the ill cat but the policeman refuted this. [4] Landis's mother and sister tried for years after to prove that Harrison had been responsible for Landis's death.

Harrison and Lilli Palmer divorced in 1957. He soon remarried, to actress Kay Kendall. He was subsequently married to Welsh-born Rachel Roberts, who, like Carol Landis, later committed suicide by taking sleeping pills. Harrison then married Elizabeth Rees-Williams and, finally, Mercia Tinker, who would become his widow in 1990.

Chronology of Harrison's six marriages
Grandkids

Honours and death

On July 25, 1989 Harrison was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. 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 motion pictures, and another at 6380 Hollywood Boulevard for his contribution to the television industry.

Having retired from films in the late 1970s, he had continued to act on Broadway until the very end, despite suffering from glaucoma, painful teeth, and a failing memory. In 1990 he appeared on Broadway in The Circle by W. Somerset Maugham, opposite Glynis Johns and Stewart Granger, when he fell ill.[5] It was discovered that he had pancreatic cancer but had been unaware of it, and he died peacefully three weeks later in New York City at the age of 82, causing the show to end prematurely.

According to Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane, The character Stewie Griffin is based on Harrison.[6]

Quotes about Harrison

  • "A pompous cad" - Cesar Romero, actor and close friend of Carol Landis.
  • "Unable to talk about anything but means of transportation" - Kurt Kreuger, actor, worked with Harrison in Unfaithfully Yours which ironically Harrison was filming during his extra-marital affair with Carol Landis.

Filmography

Awards

Nominations :

References

  1. ^ www.filmreference.com
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ Smith, J. Y. (3 Jun.), "Rex Harrison, 82, Dies; Star of `My Fair Lady'", The Washington Post, pp. c. 07 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  4. ^ [2]
  5. ^ Rex Harrison Back on Broadway
  6. ^ The Adam Carolla Podcast 3/17/09 in which Seth Discusses the origin of various Family Guy Characters.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rex Harrison.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by NYFCC Award for Best Actor
1964
for My Fair Lady 		Succeeded by

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