Richard Harris' last laugh with final words before death (2024)

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Richard Harris' last laugh with final words before death? ›

"'It was the food!' he bellowed as he was wheeled out of the hotel for the last time. It wasn't. It was in fact Hodgkin's Lymphoma."

Harris died on 25 October 2002 from Hodgkin's lymphoma in his London, England home, aged 72. He was replaced in the role of Dumbledore by Michael Gambon.

In an interview with the Toronto Star in 2001, Harris expressed his concern that his association with the Harry Potter films would outshine the rest of his career. He explained, "Because, you see, I don't just want to be remembered for being in those bloody films, and I'm afraid that's what's going to happen to me."

He died on October 25, 2002 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease two months earlier. Harris was originally expected to be buried at Mount St Lawrence in Limerick, but his family instead revealed he had been cremated and his ashes were scattered at his luxury home in the Bahamas.

Was knighted by Denmark in 1985. Turned down the role of Commodus in The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), then went on to play Commodus' father Marcus Aurelius (who dies at his son's hands) in Gladiator (2000).

Richard Harris was once found with his face in cocaine by one of his sons, according to a new documentary. Harris, who died in 2002 at the age of 72 from cancer, had been open about his hedonistic lifestyle in the 1960s and early 1970s, which involved excessive intake of cocaine and alcohol.

Harris was quite a character. A sometime IRA supporter who dated Princess Margaret. (He rescinded his support for the Provisionals after the 1983 Harrods bombing, a shift that is emblematic of his contradictory relations with the class system.)

The late Richard Harris was first cast in the role and starred as Dumbledore in the first two movies, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." However, Harris died in 2002 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer.

For the Harry Potter movies, did Richard Harris and Michael Gambon grow real beards for their roles as Albus Dumbledore? No, those weren't real beards. It's movie magic at its finest.

While Harris might have been the most faithful Dumbledore, Gambon's is certainly the best. Most of the character inconsistencies aren't the actor's fault, and Gambon had enough time to perfect Dumbledore until the character's emotional peak in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

How old was Richard Harris when he played Dumbledore? ›

There have been two Dumbledores in the Harry Potter films: Richard Harris, who played him in the first two movies, was 71 years old when Philosopher's Stone was released in 2001. Michael Gambon, who took over the role after Harris's death, was around 63 years old when Prisoner of Azkaban was released in 2004.

He was one of the most naturally gifted actors of his time, with a reputation as a dissolute drinker, which he shared with his best drinking buddies Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton. Drunk or not, he was a masterful stage and screen actor with a powerful, often menacing presence.

Richard served as an officer in the U.S. Army during World War II.

His final screen role was as "Lucius Sulla" in Caesar (2002). Harris died of Hodgkin's disease, also known as Hodgkin's lymphoma, in London on October 25, 2002, aged 72.

Richard Burton died suddenly from a cerebral hemorrhage on August 5, 1984, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Griffiths died aged 65 at University Hospital Coventry on 28 March 2013 after complications following heart surgery.

Richard served as an officer in the U.S. Army during World War II.