Rex Harrison Biography

Reginald Carey Harrison was born in Lancashire, England in 1908 and as a young boy changed his name to 'Rex' as it was Latin for king. He was educated at Liverpool College and after catching measles as a child he lost the sight in his left eye, which only caused difficulty on one occasion in his acting career.

Harrison first took to the stage at the age of 18 at the Liverpool Repertory Theatre before moving to the West End.

By 1936 he had become a bona fide British star, starring in the Terrence Rattigan play 'French Without Tears', in which he showed himself to be very skilled in black-tie comedy.

Although a stint as a flight lieutenant in the RAF during World War II interrupted his career somewhat, he quickly re-established himself with a number of British films, after the war had ended. In 1942, Harrison divorced his first wife Collette Thomas, whom he had married in 1933, and married German actress Lili Palmer.

Harrison moved to Hollywood in 1945, where his career continued to prosper, starring in 'Blithe Spirit', 'I Live in Grosvenor Square' and 'The Rake's Progress' all in 1945. Among his many roles was that of the king in the 1946 production of 'Anna and the King of Siam'.

In 1947, Harrison was the subject of a sex scandal when actress Carole Landis committed suicide after he had apparently ended their affair, leading to strain with his wife Palmer.

Before being offered the most pivotal role of his career, Harrison had earned the name Sexy Rexy due to his philandering ways. He had divorced Palmer, in 1957 so that he could marry terminally ill Kay Kendall and return to Palmer afterwards. When Kendall died in 1959, Harrison experienced grief and Palmer did not return.

Harrison will probably be best remembered for his performance as Professor Henry Higgins in the musical 'My Fair Lady', a character he played on Broadway from 1956-1958 and in London in the late 1950s.

In 1964 he also picked up an Oscar for his onscreen version of the role. He had previously received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Julius Caesar in 'Cleopatra' in 1963.

He had previously won a Tony award for Best Actor (Dramatic) for his portrayal of Henry VIII in the stage production of 'Anne of the Thousand Days' in 1948. He later played the monarch again in 1952 in an episode of 'Omnibus' about the trial of Anne Boleyn.

In 1962, he married Rachel Roberts but this ended in divorce in 1971. Harrison then wed Richard Harris's ex wife Elizabeth in 1971 but this again ended in divorce in 1975.

Harrison continued to act on both the stage and screen in the 1970s and into the 1980s. He published his autobiography, 'Rex', in 1975 and four years later he edited and published an anthology of poetry - 'If Love Be Love'.

In 1978, he wed Mercia Tinker who accompanied him to Buckingham Palace to collect his knighthood and they remained happily married until his death.

Knighted in 1989, he starred in the Broadway revival of Somerset Maugham's 'The Circle', until one month before his death from pancreatic cancer in 1990.