Profile of Rex Harrison on Famous Like Me

Sir Reginald Carey "Rex" Harrison (March 5, 1908–June 2, 1990) was a British theatre and film actor.

He was born in Huyton, Lancashire, England and first appeared on the stage in 1924 in Liverpool. 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.

Harrison was married six times. In 1942 he divorced his first wife, Marjorie Thomas, and married actress Lilli Palmer the next year; the two later appeared in numerous plays and films. After several years in film, he achieved wide success starring in the adaptation of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit (1945). He followed that with his first major American film, starring as King Mongkut in Anna and the King of Siam.

Harrison's affair with young actress Carole Landis, which is suspected to have played some part in her suicide, caused a scandal but failed to derail his career. Harrison and Palmer divorced in 1957, and he was soon remarried to the actress Kay Kendall. It was rumoured that he tried for a reconciliation with Lilli, but changed his mind when he discovered that Kendall was terminally ill with leukaemia.

He was later married to the actress Rachel Roberts, Elizabeth Harris (the first wife of the actor Richard Harris) and enduringly to his widow Mercia Tinker. (Roberts's death was also a suicide.)

Harrison 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. He also starred in 1967's Doctor Dolittle. Rex Harrison could not sing, and so the music in both these musicals had to be carefully written. Harrison "spoke" the words to the music, and it sounded, more or less, like singing. Although Harrison's acting was often described as limited, he attracted favourable notices for his portrayal of Julius Caesar in 'Cleopatra' (1963) and as Pope Julius II in 'The Agony and the Ecstasy' (1965), opposite Charlton Heston in the unlikely role of Michelangelo.

The chronology of Harrison's marriages is as follows:

1. Marjorie Thomas (1934-1942), (one son, the actor/singer Noel Harrison)
2. Lilli Palmer (1943-1957), (one son, the actor Carey Harrison)
3. Kay Kendall (1957-1959)
4. Rachel Roberts (1962-1971)
5. Elizabeth Harris (1974-1976)
6. Mercia Tinker (1978-1990)

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

Sir Rex Harrison died in in his home in New York City, aged 82, from pancreatic cancer; he had had no knowledge of even having the disease until the very end. At the end of his life he had been performing on Broadway with Glynis Johns in a play (The Circle by W. Somerset Maugham). Having retired from films in the lates 1970s, he had continued to act on Broadway until the very end, despite suffering from glaucoma, painful teeth and a failing memory.

For his contribution to motion pictures, Rex Harrison has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6906 Hollywood Blvd. and for his contribution to the television industry at 6380 Hollywood Blvd.

The voice of Stewie Griffin, a character in the animated TV show Family Guy, was partially based on Rex Harrison.

Awards:

Nominations :

• Academy Award for Best Actor for Cleopatra (1963)
• BAFTA Award for Best British Actor for My Fair Lady

Wins :

• Academy Award for Best Actor for My Fair Lady (1964)

External link

• Rex Harrison at the Internet Movie Database
• Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): Rex Harrison

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