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Knighthood|Sir Reginald Carey "Rex" Harrison
(March 5, 1908–June 2, 1990) was a United
Kingdom|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
of the year in which he died. He acted in the West
End of London when he was young, appearing in the
Terrence Rattigan play French Without Tears, which
proved to be his breakthrough role.

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.

The scandal of his affair with young actress
Carole Landis, which is suspected to have played
some part in her being led to commit suicide,
caused a scandal but effectively 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.

Harrison was best known for his portrayal of
Professor Henry Higgins in the musical
theatre|musical My Fair Lady, based on the George
Bernard Shaw play Pygmalion (play)|Pygmalion,
especially after he reprised the role in the 1964
in film|1964 film version. He also starred in 1967
in film|1967's Doctor Dolittle (movie)|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.


Sir Rex Harrison was married six times:
# Marjorie Thomas (1934-1942), (one son, the
actor/singer Noel Harrison)
# Lilli Palmer (1943-1957), (one son, the actor
Carey Harrison)
# Kay Kendall (1957-1959)
# Rachel Roberts (1962-1971)
# Elizabeth Harris (1974-1976)
# Mercia Tinker (1978-1990)


In 1989 he was knighthood|knighted.

Sir Rex Harrison died in New York, New York|New
York City from pancreatic cancer, aged 82.

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.


==Awards:==
Nominations : 
*Academy Award for Best Actor for Cleopatra
(movie)|Cleopatra (1963)
*BAFTA Award|BAFTA Award for Best British Actor
for My Fair Lady 


Wins : 
*Academy Award for Best Actor for My Fair Lady
(1964)


==External link==
*imdb name | id=0001322 | name=Rex Harrison
* http://www.thegoldenyears.org/harrison.html
Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): Rex Harrison