0:00:17 > 0:00:22Actor, singer, poet and hell-raiser.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25Richard Harris was all these things and more.
0:00:25 > 0:00:26A man who grabbed life
0:00:26 > 0:00:28by the scruff of the neck.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30He became an international star in the 1960s with
0:00:30 > 0:00:35his Oscar-nominated performance in This Sporting Life.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38The 40-year career that followed had highs and lows
0:00:38 > 0:00:41but very few dull moments.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43Harris had the gift of the gab,
0:00:43 > 0:00:47loved to tell a story and adored an audience.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52Here he is in sparkling form on the Parkinson show
0:00:52 > 0:00:56talking, at first, about an audition to get into drama school.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58I remember so fondly, I was in Hyde Park
0:00:58 > 0:01:00and I was as nervous as anything.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02It was an afternoon, I had an audition at nine.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04No, I had an audition at four, four in the afternoon.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06And there I was in Hyde Park saying,
0:01:06 > 0:01:08"I must rehearse this piece now and do it correctly."
0:01:08 > 0:01:11And there was an old man sitting down on a bench reading a newspaper
0:01:11 > 0:01:14and Harris was going around the place going, you know,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17"Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this
0:01:17 > 0:01:19"son of York." Walking around the trees,
0:01:19 > 0:01:22"And all our yesterdays have lighted fools, the way to dusty death.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25"Out, out brief candle." And there was this little fella sitting
0:01:25 > 0:01:28down with his newspaper looking up like that.
0:01:28 > 0:01:29"Oh, this boy's crackers!"
0:01:29 > 0:01:32So after a couple of minutes, anyway, after a couple of minutes...
0:01:32 > 0:01:35my first intercourse... With who?
0:01:35 > 0:01:36LAUGHTER
0:01:36 > 0:01:39- We'll talk about that later. - With... Yes! In the bar.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42My first intercourse with the police was then and I was going on,
0:01:42 > 0:01:45"And all our yesterdays have lighted fools, the way to dusty death,
0:01:45 > 0:01:48"Out, out brief candle." "You all right, lad?"
0:01:48 > 0:01:49LAUGHTER
0:01:49 > 0:01:52...there's a policeman going, "Are you all right?" I said, "Yes, thank you."
0:01:52 > 0:01:54"He doesn't sound too good, does he?"
0:01:54 > 0:01:56So I dashed back, I got into the Academy,
0:01:56 > 0:01:59and I saw a little man standing at the door with glasses
0:01:59 > 0:02:01and I dashed up and I was now an hour and a half late,
0:02:01 > 0:02:03that was it, I missed the time and the taxi
0:02:03 > 0:02:05and I finally got to the Academy.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07And there was a little man there with glasses
0:02:07 > 0:02:10and I said to him, "Oh, my God.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14"Quickly, take me to Michael MacOwen" who was the principal of the Academy.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17He said, "I am Michael MacOwen" and I said, "Good, you've discovered me."
0:02:17 > 0:02:19LAUGHTER
0:02:19 > 0:02:22So then he said the Academy was full.
0:02:22 > 0:02:23I said, "You must take me
0:02:23 > 0:02:26"because I have checked out the record of your Academy
0:02:26 > 0:02:30"and you haven't had one success. Not one success out of this Academy yet.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32"I am going to be the first success.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35"So if I were you I'd make a little place for me in there."
0:02:35 > 0:02:39So I went in and did my auditions and I got in.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42Years later, I met dear old Michael MacOwen again
0:02:42 > 0:02:45and we had a drink and I said,
0:02:45 > 0:02:47"What was that audition like I did?"
0:02:47 > 0:02:50He said, "Well, can I tell you,
0:02:50 > 0:02:52"truthfully," he said.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56"It was the worst audition that I have ever sat through."
0:02:56 > 0:02:58And I said, "Why did you take me in?"
0:02:58 > 0:03:02He said, "I took you in because any man with the gall
0:03:02 > 0:03:06"and the cheek to stand up in front of examiners
0:03:06 > 0:03:11"and to perform as badly as that has got to be a success!"
0:03:11 > 0:03:12LAUGHTER
0:03:12 > 0:03:14APPLAUSE
0:03:14 > 0:03:16Oh, dear.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22When you said that to him, when you blagged him on the stairs there,
0:03:22 > 0:03:25- did you really mean what you said? - I did, I did.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28- I was certain.- How can you be that certain, Richard?
0:03:28 > 0:03:31I think one has to think positively.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33You know, think thin.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Or think young... It hasn't done me any good!
0:03:35 > 0:03:38But, however, if you think positively it will happen.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40I remember, I'll tell you, you know that tomorrow,
0:03:40 > 0:03:42you were mentioning when we were chatting before.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45It reminds me of a great story in the dressing room upstairs
0:03:45 > 0:03:48that tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of Joan Littlewood's theatre.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50- And you worked with her? - And I worked with Joan for years.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53Everything I know, or whatever I'm supposed to know about acting,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56I learned it from this marvellous lady.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59I was in Macbeth and finally after being in the company for quite a bit
0:03:59 > 0:04:03and playing little parts, she said, "Well, you have a good part now in Macbeth.
0:04:03 > 0:04:04"You're going to play Ross in Macbeth."
0:04:04 > 0:04:08I said, "Oh, fabulous, wonderful. Wonderful." So, she said...
0:04:08 > 0:04:11So, anyway, "Shakespeare," I thought. "Me, Shakespeare, this is it!
0:04:11 > 0:04:13"This is really it, this is what I've been waiting for."
0:04:13 > 0:04:16So, I wrote to all my friends in Ireland. I said, "You must come.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19"Harris is doing Shakespeare. We're going to show the English
0:04:19 > 0:04:22"how Shakespeare should be performed. Right?
0:04:22 > 0:04:24"Come, come," I said. "Everybody, come, Mother, Father,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27"children, brothers, aunts, uncles, the rats from the farm,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30"anything, the mice, all come, be out there in the front."
0:04:30 > 0:04:33Indeed, those stones of Ireland opened up
0:04:33 > 0:04:36and relatives appeared from nowhere. LAUGHTER
0:04:36 > 0:04:38And they flocked and flocked to Ireland,
0:04:38 > 0:04:40to, erm, Theatre Workshop.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44And Harris, I was going home, I had only about four lines in it.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46Four or fives lines in the play.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49I had four weeks to rehearse four lines.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51That, without being a mathematical genius,
0:04:51 > 0:04:53is one line a week. Right?
0:04:53 > 0:04:55So, Harris is learning his four lines, going home on the train,
0:04:55 > 0:04:58going on the bus, going to Hyde Park, these four lines.
0:04:58 > 0:04:59I was going to be sensational!
0:04:59 > 0:05:02It came to the opening night and Harris had to stand back here
0:05:02 > 0:05:04and make an entrance with two other people.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07In between it I had to walk down, say these four lines,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10as best as I could, wave my arm, go off -
0:05:10 > 0:05:13it was a modern version of Macbeth and half the army go off stage right
0:05:13 > 0:05:15with Harris, you see.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17Harris is learning his lines and suddenly he's standing at the back
0:05:17 > 0:05:20and he's all dressed up in his uniform with his baton in his hand
0:05:20 > 0:05:23and he had to pull out a sword and do this to the audience.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27I stood back and I'm ready to go and I hear everybody doing their lines
0:05:27 > 0:05:30and I'm saying, "Everybody's watching me." We always think that, you see.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33Everybody's looking at that wonderful... "Who's that fella back there?"
0:05:33 > 0:05:35LAUGHTER
0:05:35 > 0:05:37"Nobody's watching Macbeth or Lady Macbeth, it was Harris
0:05:37 > 0:05:39"at the back, you see. Marvellous."
0:05:39 > 0:05:41Anyway, Harris goes on.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44Cue is about to arrive. Can you follow me with the cameras, it's a true story.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47The cue's about to arrive and I'm standing back like this,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50waiting with my sword and spear and I'm ready.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53Suddenly my cue comes and I take out the sword
0:05:53 > 0:05:56and I rush up to the front of the stage, stick out the sword like that.
0:05:58 > 0:05:59And I can't remember a line!
0:05:59 > 0:06:01LAUGHTER
0:06:01 > 0:06:02Not a bloody line!
0:06:03 > 0:06:06I can hear my mother out front say, "Isn't' he marvellous?"
0:06:08 > 0:06:10It's true, I swear.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13APPLAUSE
0:06:13 > 0:06:14I haven't gone off yet.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17So, how am I going to get off? How am I going to get off?
0:06:17 > 0:06:19How am I going to get off?
0:06:19 > 0:06:21So, I put up the sword like that, I look at all the audience
0:06:21 > 0:06:24and I went, "Argh!"
0:06:24 > 0:06:25And off!
0:06:29 > 0:06:31That's a real definition of mother love, that, isn't it?
0:06:31 > 0:06:34- Absolutely! - Only a mother could love that.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37The film that I suppose you would look back on,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41- apart from one other with most regard, was This Sporting Life.- Yes.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45- Did you enjoy making that movie? - I loved it, it was tough.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47- It was a tough movie to make.- Yeah?
0:06:47 > 0:06:50I really... I really enjoyed it because those fellas up there...
0:06:50 > 0:06:54I had to train. I take my work extremely seriously
0:06:54 > 0:06:57despite what my reputation in the press, or my private life is,
0:06:57 > 0:07:00which is kind of Rabelaisian and that.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02I take my career seriously and I went up to, er...
0:07:02 > 0:07:04I'd been up to Leeds, Wakefield,
0:07:04 > 0:07:08and I studied there with the players for about three or four weeks,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11you know, and all that and togged up with the second team.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14- Hard!- They are hard.- Oh, yeah.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16Absolutely, I remember once... Sorry, go on.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20Is that the kind of society that you like, that you admire?
0:07:20 > 0:07:24I find... I find that I don't, sort of...
0:07:24 > 0:07:27- I don't like actors very much. - Don't you?- No.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29The only actor ever to come into my house was Connery.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32I like Sean. I don't like them very much because...
0:07:32 > 0:07:36The usual cliche about actors, they speak about nothing else but themselves, you know, normally.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39What am I doing here all night? I'm talking about myself. LAUGHTER
0:07:39 > 0:07:42- Yeah, but you've been asked to. - I've been asked to, yeah.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44You know, actors always say, I know it's an old cliche
0:07:44 > 0:07:48but it's quite true when they say, "Let's not talk about me, let's talk about you."
0:07:48 > 0:07:50"What did you think of my last movie?"
0:07:53 > 0:07:54It's true.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56That was an entirely different society
0:07:56 > 0:07:59- on a very masculine basis. - I prefer that. I prefer...
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Most of my friends are either musicians, you know,
0:08:02 > 0:08:04and people who have worked extremely hard to get there.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07People who have come from different kind of backgrounds
0:08:07 > 0:08:09and I think you always get a better sort of,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12a better relationship with people when they have come from
0:08:12 > 0:08:14not the sort of... when it's tough.
0:08:14 > 0:08:15- When their family life was tough. - Yes.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18And their parents had to work hard and they've had to work hard
0:08:18 > 0:08:21and they kind of respect, er... And the achievements
0:08:21 > 0:08:26are more palatable, I think, when things aren't made too easy.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29Did you know, though, Richard, when you did This Sporting Life
0:08:29 > 0:08:32that it was going to make you the kind of... It really made you,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35- critically, at least, made you into a big star?- Yes.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37- Did you realise that when you were making it?- I didn't.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39No, not really, at all.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42I remember the hardship making it and working with Lindsay Anderson,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44who was a fantastic director and Rachel Roberts.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48- She was marvellous in it. - Marvellous.- Let's remind ourselves of that in a sequence where you,
0:08:48 > 0:08:50Frank Machin, has just signed on for the club
0:08:50 > 0:08:53and you've got the cheque in your pocket and you go back to tell her about it.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03That Johnson called earlier on.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06That friend of yours.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08I've just seen him.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10Do you mean he's been waiting all this time, it was hours ago.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13He likes to get out and about a bit.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15- You should have friends your own age.- I have.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20They've signed me on.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25Didn't you hear what I said?
0:09:26 > 0:09:28Yes... You'll be pleased.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31- So will you when you guess how much it is.- Oh.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35- I don't know anything about it. - Go on, have a guess.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38Just guess how much you think I'm worth.
0:09:40 > 0:09:41Thruppence?
0:09:41 > 0:09:44Careful, careful.
0:09:44 > 0:09:45You made a joke.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49You can't go on cracking jokes like that, you know, you might do yourself an injury.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53Well, come on, have a guess.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55Come on.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57No...
0:09:57 > 0:09:59Well, I better tell you since you're so keen.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03£1,000.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11Oh...
0:10:11 > 0:10:14- You're a great ape. - You don't believe me.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16Look, I've got the cheque here in my pocket.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21£1,000 in letters and in numbers.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24Signed, sealed and delivered, Frank Machin.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27They drove me home in their car, a bloody Bentley!
0:10:31 > 0:10:32It's very good.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40You don't sound very excited about it.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44It's a bit more than I got when my husband died.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Well, isn't that right bloody handsome of yer.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53You didn't have to do anything for it.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56You mean I didn't have to get killed for it!
0:10:56 > 0:10:57Some people have life made for them.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00That's right, Mrs Hammond, and some people make it for themselves!
0:11:09 > 0:11:12It's about time you took that tonne of rock off your shoulders.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16And don't wake me in the morning, I might be dead!
0:11:16 > 0:11:18APPLAUSE
0:11:23 > 0:11:27Machin, of course in that film, was essentially a sort of violent man,
0:11:27 > 0:11:30it's one way he sort of expressed himself.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32I mean, are you violent, Richard?
0:11:32 > 0:11:34Er, only when I'm picked on.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36HE CHUCKLES
0:11:36 > 0:11:38No, I don't... I...
0:11:39 > 0:11:41Well, yes...
0:11:41 > 0:11:43LAUGHTER
0:11:43 > 0:11:45Which is it to be, yes or no?
0:11:45 > 0:11:49Well, I suppose I try to avoid trouble, you know, as much as I can but when it comes...
0:11:49 > 0:11:52You know, I like to walk away from it a lot, not because I'm a coward
0:11:52 > 0:11:54- but, in fact, I am. I'm a converted coward.- Mmm.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57That's it at this stage in my life but, I think, you know,
0:11:57 > 0:11:59one gets into these rows and, er...
0:12:00 > 0:12:03- And the press build them up, you know.- Yes.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05But how do you get into them?
0:12:05 > 0:12:09I mean, does it always happen that people pick on you, or what?
0:12:09 > 0:12:14Well, either a friend's been insulted or, er, I'm being insulted.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16I remember sort of one row. What was it...?
0:12:16 > 0:12:18Oh, yes, the row...
0:12:18 > 0:12:20I was at the, er...
0:12:21 > 0:12:23- ..at The Talk Of The Town.- Oh, yes.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25The Sammy Davis row.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28We were there at a party and there was some fella sitting beside us
0:12:28 > 0:12:30and he took an instant dislike to Sammy
0:12:30 > 0:12:32and Davis was kind of a friend of mine.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34I just asked him would he keep quiet, we were enjoying the show
0:12:34 > 0:12:36and he kept on again and he kept on.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38I said, "Listen, honestly, we are enjoying this show."
0:12:38 > 0:12:41He kept on and he called Sammy some more things and I, erm,
0:12:41 > 0:12:43took the law into my own hands and hit him with it.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45HE LAUGHS
0:12:45 > 0:12:47APPLAUSE
0:12:47 > 0:12:50- Can we have a look at those bloopers of yours?- All right.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Erm, before we roll them,
0:12:52 > 0:12:55I should explain to people at home that in fact what Richard's
0:12:55 > 0:12:58- done and this, in fact, was part of your concert tour, as well?- Yes.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01People seem to think they see the finished product at home of
0:13:01 > 0:13:04a movie that it's all been done first time and in effect many,
0:13:04 > 0:13:08many takes go into making a scene, creating a scene.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12What you've done in this is you've shown what can go wrong?
0:13:12 > 0:13:15Right. I collect them for my children, really,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18because I show a movie to my sons, or something, and they look up...
0:13:18 > 0:13:21I've got three boys and they look up and they think,
0:13:21 > 0:13:24"You're marvellous, Dad." This is a bad way to bring up kids
0:13:24 > 0:13:27having any kind of... I think any kind of...
0:13:27 > 0:13:29This aura about your father.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33I've seen too many actors' sons in motion pictures being destroyed by the image
0:13:33 > 0:13:35that Dad has, the success.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38I wanted to show the kids that your dad isn't all that bright, or good.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41So, every time I made a mistake in a movie, a genuine mistake,
0:13:41 > 0:13:44I collected them and I've put them together.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48When I've shown my sons that particular movie, they'd look up and say "Oh, you're marvellous, Dad."
0:13:48 > 0:13:51I'd say, "One second, I want to show you something else."
0:13:51 > 0:13:54I'd run them all the mistakes I'd made and the look was never
0:13:54 > 0:13:55so adoring when the lights went up.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58They'd say, "You're not so bright, Dad".
0:13:58 > 0:14:00Let's roll it now, then.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02And then...
0:14:02 > 0:14:04- You'll talk us through it, Richard?- OK.- Fine.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06I think the first one is A Man Called Horse.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08Did you see A Man Called Horse?
0:14:08 > 0:14:10The first one is A Man Called Horse
0:14:10 > 0:14:13and to get the part in the movie, the producer said,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16"Can you ride a horse?" I said, "Of course I can ride a horse!
0:14:16 > 0:14:18"All Irishmen can ride horses, for God's sake!"
0:14:18 > 0:14:21They thought how super, this is the first day's shooting,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24there's Harris in Horse, riding superbly.
0:14:24 > 0:14:29All the directors and producers are totally relieved at my...
0:14:29 > 0:14:31There we are! LAUGHTER
0:14:34 > 0:14:36That's marvellous that, isn't it?
0:14:36 > 0:14:39APPLAUSE
0:14:39 > 0:14:41The next one we're going to look at is
0:14:41 > 0:14:45- something from, er, Man... - Yes, Man In The Wilderness.
0:14:45 > 0:14:46That's right.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51This is the correct version.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53This is the perfect version you saw on the screen
0:14:53 > 0:14:55and then we show you the mistake.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03This is towards the end of the movie and he finds this rabbit with
0:15:03 > 0:15:07a broken foot and he tries to make a splint.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11Look how the rabbit put up the broken foot to be mended.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23That's the perfect version, now here is Harris's improvisation here.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27This is the first take.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32I don't know what the hell I'm looking for in there for a start! LAUGHTER
0:15:33 > 0:15:35PARKINSON CHUCKLES
0:15:35 > 0:15:37It's beautiful, this.
0:15:38 > 0:15:39LAUGHTER
0:15:44 > 0:15:46APPLAUSE
0:15:49 > 0:15:53- What's the next one, Richard? - The next one is also from Wilderness.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57This is the very beginning of the movie when, I don't know
0:15:57 > 0:16:01if you've seen it, you should see it if you haven't seen it, it's a marvellous movie.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03By the look of things, nobody saw it!
0:16:03 > 0:16:07Nobody. Here's the beginning when he was attacked by a bear, you see.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09On the day of shooting, the producer said to me,
0:16:09 > 0:16:13"Don't you think you ought to have a look at the bear?" I said, "No."
0:16:13 > 0:16:16I thought I was valuable and they wouldn't put a huge bear on me.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21This is the perfect sequence you see that happened in the movie.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28BEAR ROARS
0:16:34 > 0:16:37That was the good version.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39You weren't supposed to laugh at that.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44Now here's what happened when Harris didn't look at the bear
0:16:44 > 0:16:46and they released him.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53BEAR ROARS
0:16:59 > 0:17:01APPLAUSE
0:17:06 > 0:17:07They're better than the movie!
0:17:07 > 0:17:11Some of them are better than the movies, aren't they?
0:17:11 > 0:17:14As Harris said in that interview, despite the joking around,
0:17:14 > 0:17:17anyone who thought he didn't take his acting seriously
0:17:17 > 0:17:19would have been very mistaken.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22He could be totally committed in his approach and preparations,
0:17:22 > 0:17:24as he reveals here
0:17:24 > 0:17:28talking about his title role in the 1970 film, Cromwell.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32Richard Harris, Cromwell.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36I see that in fact physically you're playing him warts and all
0:17:36 > 0:17:38but are you in fact playing him warts and all?
0:17:38 > 0:17:42- What does that mean?- In other words, are you playing him as hero...?
0:17:42 > 0:17:48That's the one thing I sort of strove to avoid in the script.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50I think the audience at the end of the movie should be able to...
0:17:50 > 0:17:52I think we should have a split audience at the end
0:17:52 > 0:17:54if the movie is going to be successful.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58We should have half the audience saying the King was right and half saying Cromwell was right.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02The interesting thing about Cromwell was that how little the English really know of the true man.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05Indeed, the Irish and the Catholics, as well.
0:18:05 > 0:18:11But I think that he was a much maligned man in England history,
0:18:11 > 0:18:15in English history and that over the past, I don't know, years, it's
0:18:15 > 0:18:21been my ambition to play him since 1959, when I got this script first
0:18:21 > 0:18:24and got Irving finally to do it.
0:18:24 > 0:18:29I was studying his part for a couple of years, off and on.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33I sort of discovered that the legend of Cromwell was built
0:18:33 > 0:18:39out of Royalist propaganda and now people are beginning to uncover
0:18:39 > 0:18:42the truth of the man, the greatness of the man, which is interesting.
0:18:42 > 0:18:48I read that Prince Charles in fact in the newspaper some weeks ago
0:18:48 > 0:18:51said that he was brought up to believe that Charles I
0:18:51 > 0:18:54was a marvellous man and that Cromwell was an hypocritical monster
0:18:54 > 0:18:57but now, on the studying of the parts and the period,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00he reversed that opinion, which is interesting enough.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03Talking about the way you're playing it,
0:19:03 > 0:19:06in 1963 when you did Diary Of A Madman on stage,
0:19:06 > 0:19:08you played very much larger-than-life,
0:19:08 > 0:19:13you were not a little person playing a little part in little ways.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18Are you playing Cromwell larger-than-life?
0:19:18 > 0:19:20It's difficult to... It's difficult to...
0:19:20 > 0:19:23It's difficult to answer that question.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28I think that... I think that I've studied the part very carefully
0:19:28 > 0:19:33and I have read the Carlyle book on his letters and his speeches
0:19:33 > 0:19:36and they were quite dynamic and people's opinions of him,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39which were quite extraordinary, that he had a tremendous power.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42He also had a great gift of disappearing in company,
0:19:42 > 0:19:46that for quite a while you wouldn't remember who he was but then
0:19:46 > 0:19:49when he had a point of view to say, he said it with tremendous economy
0:19:49 > 0:19:53of words, with great power and the ones that have remembered him after.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55I'm trying to get that into the part.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57Also, the man himself, he was a great family man.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01He loved his family, he loved the farm, loved wine.
0:20:01 > 0:20:05Looked good music, he was a locksmith by hobby
0:20:05 > 0:20:08and all these things are interesting enough to get underneath the man.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10I think it's very dangerous if one goes overboard.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12Acting techniques are extraordinary.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15The technique that one uses on the stage is far different
0:20:15 > 0:20:17than one would have to use in cinema.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20One has to keep back.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22You have gone to considerable lengths with this part.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26For example, I know that you have quite deliberately broken your voice.
0:20:26 > 0:20:31Yes, I thought that my voice was too light for the part and also,
0:20:31 > 0:20:35either that there are so many powerful speeches in it,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39I didn't think my voice had that kind of strength, also it is
0:20:39 > 0:20:42against Guinness's voice which is terribly light.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45I thought the best thing I could do was to break it.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49In Spain, the first day in Spain, I went to the top of a mountain
0:20:49 > 0:20:52and screamed and roared for two hours
0:20:52 > 0:20:56and then I do voice exercises to keep it like this,
0:20:56 > 0:21:00which means I've ruined my recording career. There we are.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03But isn't it in fact very dangerous to do this?
0:21:03 > 0:21:06Isn't there a danger that you might lose your voice entirely?
0:21:06 > 0:21:08I never think of the future.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11I think of the present and right now for this part
0:21:11 > 0:21:15- that's the most important thing to me.- Can you afford to do that?
0:21:15 > 0:21:18- You mean financially or physically? - Financially and physically?
0:21:18 > 0:21:22Well, financially, I suppose, I can't record again until October,
0:21:22 > 0:21:26until this movie finishes. I'm hoping to get my voice back.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29If I don't get it back, then I'll lose a certain amount
0:21:29 > 0:21:31of revenue from the recording world,
0:21:31 > 0:21:33but I won't miss it very much.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36You could also lose certain types of part, couldn't you?
0:21:36 > 0:21:38Well, yes, I suppose.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41I'll have to go on playing Cromwell all my life!
0:21:41 > 0:21:42True or false,
0:21:42 > 0:21:47you've acquired the reputation of being something of a hell-raiser.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51How much of that is a newspaper fabrication, would you say?
0:21:51 > 0:21:54I'd be a terrible hypocrite if I said it was all...
0:21:54 > 0:21:59I do live, I must say, a rather hectic, wild life.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03I'm definitely restless if I'm in one place too long.
0:22:03 > 0:22:09But a lot of it... Some of it has been overexaggerated, I think.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12My God, I shouldn't have said that. I don't know, really.
0:22:12 > 0:22:18For example, recently in a Sunday newspaper there was a report of
0:22:18 > 0:22:23a continental jet plane binge that you took, which lasted several days.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27It wasn't really because then again you see the story that was
0:22:27 > 0:22:33finally printed was the story that was... that the readers
0:22:33 > 0:22:36of that particular newspaper would only want to read.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39In fact, it was a terrific trip.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43Despite the fact there was a large variety
0:22:43 > 0:22:46and a large scale of things that we did, they just took an aspect of it.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49Wolf Mankowitz, who was very brilliant and very bright
0:22:49 > 0:22:51and a marvellous guy, I think,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54we had the most fantastic discussions about religion
0:22:54 > 0:22:58and politics and poetry and sex and man's place in the world
0:22:58 > 0:23:02and the woman's place in the world, the woman's place in the man's life and vice versa.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05You know, had it been, maybe another newspaper,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08it would have taken on a whole different thing.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12That would have taken probably the primary aspects of the trip but
0:23:12 > 0:23:17because that particular newspaper chose to take an aspect of it.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22I can't deny that any of the reports in the newspaper were not true!
0:23:22 > 0:23:25HE CHUCKLES
0:23:25 > 0:23:28There are always stories too about your not getting on too well
0:23:28 > 0:23:32- with some of your co-stars, people like Charlton Heston...- Yes.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36Marlon Brando, Kirk Douglas, although I believe he's supposed to be quite a good friend now?
0:23:36 > 0:23:38Yes, he is. He is.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Are you difficult to get on with, do you think?
0:23:41 > 0:23:43I think... I don't know.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46You would have to ask, you would have to ask certain actors,
0:23:46 > 0:23:48or certain directors.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50I remember John Huston once said and wrote about me,
0:23:50 > 0:23:54the next time he hears a director say that Harris is impossible,
0:23:54 > 0:23:57he knows that director hasn't done his homework.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59I can't stand people who don't do their homework.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02I take it very seriously, you know, my profession,
0:24:02 > 0:24:05the thing I'm in at that particular moment.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09I can't stand any kind of incompetence or mediocrity,
0:24:09 > 0:24:10I think, upsets me quite a bit.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13When I find people don't really take it seriously, I get quite upset.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17The intolerance expressed there didn't fade with age.
0:24:17 > 0:24:22Years later, in 1999, Harris got so upset with one director's treatment
0:24:22 > 0:24:26of his performance that it made national news
0:24:26 > 0:24:30and became a major talking point at the Cannes Film Festival.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33TV REPORT: The stars came out for Cannes' first night.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37Guests at the opening ceremony included Claudia Schiffer,
0:24:37 > 0:24:40along with Holly Hunter, director David Cronenberg
0:24:40 > 0:24:41and Faye Dunaway.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45Cannes is the one festival the celebs love attending,
0:24:45 > 0:24:50but not for one star. According to the posters, The Barber of Siberia
0:24:50 > 0:24:53stars Richard Harris and Julia Ormond.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56After the opening celebrations, the photographers were all over Julia,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59but Richard stayed away, in protest.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02What was a headlining role, has, in his opinion,
0:25:02 > 0:25:06"been savaged into a guest appearance".
0:25:06 > 0:25:09I won the Cannes Film Festival, in 1963.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11I won it for This Sporting Life.
0:25:12 > 0:25:18And having won it and to go back yesterday,
0:25:18 > 0:25:21to find that I'm starring in a picture with Julia Ormond
0:25:21 > 0:25:26and I sit there in shock that I'm actually barely in it.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31Directors here in Cannes were, however, less than charitable.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35It's only human to be annoyed that you put so much work into something
0:25:35 > 0:25:37and your part has been, you know, cut down.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40Erm...on the other hand, I understand the film's now
0:25:40 > 0:25:43three hours long, anyway, so, probably, the first cut
0:25:43 > 0:25:47was four and a half hours, so someone should be cutting it.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50If you are going to cut something, I should imagine a Richard Harris
0:25:50 > 0:25:53performance might be the first place that you'd go, in my opinion!
0:25:53 > 0:25:57It's very sad. I mean, it is a very long film, that goes on
0:25:57 > 0:26:00for hours and hours and hours and you do sit there wondering
0:26:00 > 0:26:03where Richard Harris is. He is, really, little more than a cameo.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07At the time of the controversy, Richard Harris' wild days
0:26:07 > 0:26:12were well behind him, with health problems diagnosed in the early '80s
0:26:12 > 0:26:16forcing him, finally, to call time on the years of heavy drinking.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19What can you now not drink?
0:26:19 > 0:26:21Oh, I can't drink alcohol.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23LAUGHTER
0:26:23 > 0:26:25- What can you not eat?- I can't eat
0:26:25 > 0:26:29sugar or salt or oil - anything like that.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33It's a terrible bore, isn't it? You drink, don't you, a little?
0:26:33 > 0:26:37- I just had a wee nifty one, before I came on.- Did you?- Just a small one.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39I wish I'd had that, too. I'm not allowed that.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42I have got that hypoglycaemia thing. It rushes through you and you can
0:26:42 > 0:26:45collapse and go into a state of shock and all that kind of thing,
0:26:45 > 0:26:48- so I have to be careful.- What have you had, for instance, today?
0:26:48 > 0:26:52- What have you had to eat today? - Oh, today, I had rice.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55Every morning, I have oatmeal, a big, big bowl of oatmeal
0:26:55 > 0:26:57and a banana. And, then...
0:26:57 > 0:26:58LAUGHTER
0:26:58 > 0:27:03Terrible. Then, for my lunch, I had rice and, today, I had nothing
0:27:03 > 0:27:07for my dinner. I'll probably go back and have rice and oatmeal mixed.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10It's terribly dull, isn't it? You're getting green even listening to me.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14- It's awful.- And you just can't bear it, that diet?- Oh, I can, yes.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17- How old are you? You're 49, aren't you?- Yes, thank you(!)
0:27:17 > 0:27:19LAUGHTER
0:27:19 > 0:27:26- And you eat a lot of rice.- Yes.- And you do Camelot, 420 times so far,
0:27:26 > 0:27:28and you're going to do it a lot more times. How do you get kicks?
0:27:28 > 0:27:30Well, I...
0:27:30 > 0:27:32LAUGHTER
0:27:32 > 0:27:36Well, it's boring. I mean, it's very dull.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40It is dull to go into a bar and ask, "What kind of water have you got?"
0:27:40 > 0:27:45But how do you spark up your life now, at the age of 49?
0:27:45 > 0:27:49I've said it three times now. "Peak of your career", it says here.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52We have gone through... You are at the top of it
0:27:52 > 0:27:55and you are doing your opening in three weeks' time,
0:27:55 > 0:27:58when you go home at night, do you say to yourself,
0:27:58 > 0:28:01"Goddammit, that's another day. What am I doing here?"
0:28:01 > 0:28:06Yeah, you do. It is tiresome. I get a thrill out of doing the show,
0:28:06 > 0:28:10of course, and you have got to find different kinds of means
0:28:10 > 0:28:13to elevate yourself. It is just...it's getting used to doing
0:28:13 > 0:28:17a different, sort of, thing. I don't smoke grass and I don't coke.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20I don't do any of that, so I am really, sort of, very dull.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23I have really found out that...
0:28:23 > 0:28:25Richard Burton and I met two years ago
0:28:25 > 0:28:28and we were talking about our lives when we drank so much.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32We, sort of, sat back and we thought, you know, how boring people are.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35"Now we don't drink, everyone who drinks around us, they're so dull."
0:28:35 > 0:28:37We said, "Were we that dull?"
0:28:37 > 0:28:39As he dried out in the 1980s, Richard Harris' cinema career
0:28:40 > 0:28:42appeared to have dried up, too.
0:28:42 > 0:28:47He stayed away from films for years and enjoyed several stage successes.
0:28:47 > 0:28:51One of these was the 1990 production of Henry IV,
0:28:51 > 0:28:56which coincided with a triumphant movie comeback, with The Field.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59- It's lovely to see you again. - Thank you.- You have always been one
0:28:59 > 0:29:02of my favourite screen actors and you have just completed a new movie
0:29:02 > 0:29:05- with the team who were behind My Left Foot.- Yeah.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08Why has there been such a long absence? Why have you not...
0:29:08 > 0:29:10I gave up making movies eight years ago.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13I tell you why I gave up. Now, I know you are going to have
0:29:13 > 0:29:16some good remarks about this. I can trust you to come back quickly.
0:29:16 > 0:29:21- My last movie, with Bo Derek... Ready?- I'm not going to
0:29:21 > 0:29:23say a word, Richard. The stage is yours.
0:29:23 > 0:29:24RICHARD LAUGHS
0:29:24 > 0:29:25Well, it was called
0:29:25 > 0:29:28- Tarzan, The Ape Man. - I remember that.- You remember that?
0:29:28 > 0:29:29What a cracker.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33LAUGHTER
0:29:33 > 0:29:37What happened was, I found myself on the very first day of shooting -
0:29:37 > 0:29:40It was a 44-day shooting schedule - and I found myself writing in
0:29:40 > 0:29:45my diary, "43 days left". I thought, "What am I doing that for?
0:29:45 > 0:29:50"Why am I wasting 43 days? Why am I wishing 43 days to pass?"
0:29:50 > 0:29:51So, I said, "That's the end".
0:29:51 > 0:29:53And I hadn't made a picture for eight years.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57This script came, called The Field. Very impressively written
0:29:57 > 0:30:00by Jim Sheridan and directed by Jim Sheridan, who did My Left Foot.
0:30:00 > 0:30:05It was an astonishing script and they asked me to play a small part in it
0:30:05 > 0:30:07and I said, no. They said, "Just let us use your name.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10"if you can just play this three of four-day part."
0:30:10 > 0:30:12So, I read the script and I said,
0:30:12 > 0:30:15"Not only will I not play the small part, but I'll play the lead.
0:30:15 > 0:30:19"I want to do the lead." They didn't want me, may I tell you,
0:30:19 > 0:30:22because when they suggested me to Hollywood, they said,
0:30:22 > 0:30:24"Richard Harris? Is he still alive?"
0:30:24 > 0:30:26"Didn't you see him in Tarzan, The Ape Man?"
0:30:26 > 0:30:31"With Bo Derek"! And, so, at the end of it, I got it.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35And I've just seen it. I know there was a thing in the paper last week
0:30:35 > 0:30:37about my being disappointed by it.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41When I saw it, I was, kind of, a little disappointed, because I find
0:30:41 > 0:30:45this interesting. Great... Like...great movies are made
0:30:45 > 0:30:48by great men, right?
0:30:48 > 0:30:52And Jim... It was Jim Sheridan's second picture,
0:30:52 > 0:30:57so this great director made a great picture, but he listened to
0:30:57 > 0:31:00ordinary people how to put it together and it became
0:31:00 > 0:31:03an ordinary film. So, I persuaded him to go back - to trust himself -
0:31:03 > 0:31:07to go back to the original structure. He's done that and it's massive.
0:31:07 > 0:31:08When will that be out?
0:31:08 > 0:31:10Do we...?
0:31:10 > 0:31:13Well, it opens at the New York Film Festival at the end of October.
0:31:13 > 0:31:15It will open here around November.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19- But I will say this, honestly - and you know how I decry my work.- I do.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22I am the greatest decrier of my work. I say, "Good God, it's awful,
0:31:22 > 0:31:24"don't go and see it."
0:31:24 > 0:31:26I think it's one of the best 25 pictures ever made.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30- I look forward to seeing it, as I'm sure...- Have you seen Henry IV yet?
0:31:30 > 0:31:33I haven't seen Henry IV yet. I will come. Tuesday night, perhaps.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35I'll be there. I know you have to dash off now,
0:31:35 > 0:31:38because you are appearing on stage this evening.
0:31:38 > 0:31:39We've got... What time are you?
0:31:39 > 0:31:43It doesn't matter, we've got to get rid of you. We've got other guests.
0:31:43 > 0:31:44LAUGHTER
0:31:44 > 0:31:47That was just me being polite, frankly.
0:31:47 > 0:31:49APPLAUSE
0:31:52 > 0:31:55As always, a pleasure. Mr Richard Harris, ladies and gentlemen!
0:31:55 > 0:31:57CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:31:59 > 0:32:01His performance in The Field earned Richard Harris
0:32:01 > 0:32:06a second Oscar nomination and gave his career a second wind.
0:32:06 > 0:32:12The Unforgiven and Gladiator were just two huge hits he appeared in.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16And, of course, there was his final role...
0:32:17 > 0:32:20His granddaughter said she would never speak to him again
0:32:20 > 0:32:22if he turned down the role of Albus Dumbledore,
0:32:22 > 0:32:25in the Harry Potter films.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29"I'll keep doing it as long as I enjoy it,
0:32:29 > 0:32:32"my health holds out and they still want me,"
0:32:32 > 0:32:36Harris said. "But," he added, "the chances of all three of those
0:32:36 > 0:32:39"factors remaining constant are pretty slim."
0:32:41 > 0:32:43Sadly, he was right.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47His death, at the age of 72, came a fortnight before the premiere
0:32:47 > 0:32:50of the second Potter movie.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53Playing Dumbledore meant he had secured his place for ever
0:32:53 > 0:32:56in the affections of a new generation of film-goers.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01And to those who enjoyed him in his prime, he will always be
0:33:01 > 0:33:06a true force of nature and an forgettable screen presence.