Richard Harris

The intimate biography of the celebrated actor Richard Harris, written with his cooperation over ten years by New York Times bestselling author and friend of Harris, Michael Feeney Callan. The book follows Harris' life from humble beginnings in Limerick, Ireland, through the teenage illness that almost killed him to triumph on the London stage and, finally, life in Hollywood. Drawing on lengthy interview sessions with Harris and his friends, co-workers and family, Callan explores the obsessions that forged Harris' success in legendary movies like This Sporting Life, Camelot and the megahit Harry Potter series. Described by The Guardian as 'thorough and entertaining', by Kirkus Reviews as 'meticulous' and by the Mail on Sunday as 'irresistible' this incident-packed account is destined to remain the definitive Life of Richard Harris. "Thorough and entertaining" Guardian "Irresistible" Mail on Sunday "Meticulous" Kirkus Reviews

Richard Harris was a giant who oozed charisma on screen; offscreen, however, he was troubled and addicted to every pleasure life could offer. Coming from a repressed Irish Catholic background, he was forced by a teenage illness to abandon his beloved rugby, but not his macho appetites. Discovering theater saved him. He had found his calling. Despite marrying the daughter of a peer, he never tried to fit in. He was always a hell-raiser to the core, along with legendary buddies Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole. But he was more; he was a gifted poet and singer. He was an intelligent family man who took great interest in his craft, and was a Renaissance man of the film world. Every time his excesses threatened to kill his career, and himself, he rose magnificently from the ashes, first with an Oscar-winning performance as Bull McCabe in The Field, then in the Harry Potter franchise.

An essential book to understanding whether the new miracle cure is good science or simply too good to be true American taxpayers spend $30 billion annually funding biomedical research, but over half of these studies can't be replicated due to poor experimental design, improper methods, and sloppy statistics. Bad science doesn't just hold back medical progress, it can sign the equivalent of a death sentence for terminal patients. In Rigor Mortis, Richard Harris explores these urgent issues with vivid anecdotes, personal stories, and interviews with the top biomedical researchers. We need to fix our dysfunctional biomedical system -- before it's too late.

Creeping Conformity, the first history of suburbanization in Canada, provides a geographical perspective – both physical and social – on Canada's suburban past. Shaped by internal and external migration, decentralization of employment, and increased use of the streetcar and then the automobile, the rise of the suburb held great social promise, reflecting the aspirations of Canadian families for more domestic space and home ownership. After 1945 however, the suburbs became stereotyped as generic, physically standardized, and socially conformist places. By 1960, they had grown further away – physically and culturally – from their respective parent cities, and brought unanticipated social and environmental consequences. Government intervention also played a key role, encouraging mortgage indebtedness, amortization, and building and subdivision regulations to become the suburban norm. Suburban homes became less affordable and more standardized, and for the first time, Canadian commentators began to speak disdainfully of 'the suburbs,' or simply 'suburbia.' Creeping Conformity traces how these perceptions emerged to reflect a new suburban reality. Electronic Format Disclaimer: Two images removed at the request of the rights holder.

It is widely believed that only the growth of mass suburbs after World War II brought suburban living within reach of blue-collar workers, immigrants, and racial minorities. But in this original and intensive study of Toronto, Richard Harris shows that even prewar suburbs were socially and ethnically diverse, with a significant number of lower-income North American families making their homes on the urban fringe. In the United States and Canada, lack of planning set the stage for a uniquely North American tragedy. Unplanned Suburbs serves as a reminder of the dangers of unchecked suburban growth.

In 1987, when Richard Harris – the legendary star of This Sporting Life, The Field and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – was interviewed for the first time by Joe Jackson, they almost came to blows. Jackson was determined to unearth deeper truths about the actor than he usually disclosed during interviews. Harris had manipulated the media all his life, largely to keep people from getting to really know him. However, by the time that interview ended, they had become firm friends. It was only then that Jackson told Harris, ‘I want to show the public that there is far more to you than your superficial image as a boozing, brawling womaniser.’ Harris loved this idea and two years later he asked Jackson to write his biography. Richard Harris: Raising Hell and Reaching for Heaven is that biography. But it is much more besides. Based on a searingly honest series of interviews Jackson recorded with Harris between 1987 and 2001, plus the author’s journal entries and extensive notes, this book is also a part-memoir that tells a highly personal and moving back story about why it was inevitable that Jackson and Harris would connect at the deepest possible level. This book will finally prove beyond a doubt that there was far more to Richard Harris, indisputably one of Ireland’s greatest actors as well as a Grammy-award-winning recording artist and published poet, than has previously been revealed.

Richard Harris was never an easy person to get along with. He was a difficult schoolboy (and was later disowned by his Limerick teachers), then he went to work in the family flour and milling business - where he organised a strike against his father. It was as a gifted and compelling actor that Richard Harris dominated stage and screen for more than four decades. He was nominated for an Oscar twice: for his earthy portrayal of a rugby player in This Sporting Life and as a dominant and bullish Irish farmer in The Field. More recently he delivered gripping screen performances in Gladiator and two Harry Potter films. But it was his violent, drunken, womanising private life that fed the public myth and made Harris, one of a new breed of rogue male actors, an international celebrity. Married and divorced twice, with three sons - two actors, one a film director - he claimed the only time he had been miscast was as a husband. His lovers included legends such as Merle Oberon, Sophia Loren, Ava Gardner and Vanessa Redgrave.