Richard Harris farewell, some quotes from HP adult cast

[Amanda Geist]

A Richard Harris tidbit, courtesy of Georgiana off the Alan Rickman
Guestbook:

Copyright 2002 The Telegraph Group Limited
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
October 27, 2002, Sunday
SECTION: Pg. 12
HEADLINE: Sad farewell to Harris, wizard to the stars Warm tributes for
Hollywood hellraiser and rugby fan who fought to the end
BYLINE: BY CHRIS HASTINGS

PETER O'TOOLE, the lifelong friend of Richard Harris, last night led
tributes to the 72-year-old actor who died on Friday after a long battle
with Hodgkin's disease.

"I am deeply sad. My love is with his family and a great spirit has gone,"
said Mr O'Toole, who broke off from filming in Tunisia to speak of his
sadness as news of Harris's death spread across the world.

Other friends and colleagues paid tribute to Harris, including Alan Rickman,
who co-starred alongside him in the first two Harry Potter films. "He was an
absolute professional who knew how to live life to the full," he said. "I
loved him: he was an extraordinary man. I count myself so lucky to have
worked with him. I used to sit next to him in the make-up chair on the set
of Harry Potter every morning and he would share his marvellous insights
into the works of Beckett and Shakespeare."

Rickman revealed: "He hadn't even read the Harry Potter books and was only
doing the film because his granddaughter said she'd not forgive him if he
didn't."

Despite his age, Harris still showed flashes of his hellraising past.
"Kenneth Branagh and I were in the bar with him one night and he was still
going at four in the morning with stories about his life," recalled Rickman.
"We just sat there with our mouths wide open.

"But the most amazing thing was that he was on set at 8am the next day to
read his lines to me even though he was off camera. That was the real mark
of the man."

Dame Maggie Smith, who starred as Prof Minerva McGonagall to Harris's Prof
Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, said: "My heart goes out to his
family. It is a great loss. I am going to miss him terribly.

"We walked around as a pair in Harry Potter. I always think Prof McGonagall
was madly in love with him anyway. It was a great pleasure to be with him
and it's going to be odd doing a Potter film without him. I just don't know
what we're going to do."

She added: "You had the feeling he was very frail on set, but he was always
there doing his bit. I think he loved the films precisely because he was
doing it for his grandchildren, who browbeat him into taking the part."
. . . . . . . . . .

Georgiana
Seattle - Sunday, October 27, 2002