Richard St John Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor, singer, songwriter, producer, director, and writer. He appeared on stage and in many films, appearing as Frank Machin in
This Sporting Life, and
King Arthur in the 1967 film
Camelot and the subsequent 1981 revival of the show. He played an aristocrat and prisoner in
A Man Called Horse (1970), a
gunfighter in
Clint Eastwood's Western film
Unforgiven (1992), Emperor
Marcus Aurelius in
Gladiator (2000), and
Albus Dumbledore in both
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). Harris had a top ten hit in the United Kingdom and United States with his 1968 recording of
Jimmy Webb's song "
MacArthur Park".