Sir Reginald Carey "Rex" Harrison was an English actor.
59 Facts About Rex Harrison
2.
Rex Harrison made his West End debut in 1936 appearing in the Terence Rattigan play French Without Tears, in what was his breakthrough role.
3.
Rex Harrison won his first Tony Award for his performance as Henry VIII in the play Anne of the Thousand Days in 1949.
4.
Rex Harrison won his second Tony for the role of Professor Henry Higgins in the stage production of My Fair Lady in 1957.
5.
Rex Harrison's first starring role was opposite Vivien Leigh in the romantic comedy Storm in a Teacup.
6.
Rex Harrison was married six times and had two sons: Noel and Carey Harrison.
7.
Rex Harrison continued working in stage productions until shortly before his death from pancreatic cancer in June 1990 at the age of 82.
8.
Reginald Carey Rex Harrison was born on 5 March 1908 at Derry House in Huyton, Lancashire, the son of Edith Mary and William Reginald Rex Harrison, a cotton broker.
9.
Rex Harrison was the youngest of three children and had two older sisters, Edith Marjorie Harrison and Sylvia Margaret Sackville, Countess De La Warr, DBE.
10.
Rex Harrison became determined to pursue a career in acting after seeing a production at a local theatre when he was a child.
11.
Rex Harrison refused to take acting lessons and he never took an acting lesson during his six decade long career.
12.
Rex Harrison first appeared on the stage in 1924 in Liverpool.
13.
Rex Harrison's acting career was interrupted by World War II, during which he served in the Royal Air Force and reached the rank of Flight Lieutenant.
14.
Rex Harrison acted in various stage productions until 11 May 1990.
15.
Rex Harrison made his West End debut in 1936, appearing in the Terence Rattigan play French Without Tears, which proved to be his breakthrough role, and established him as a leading light comedian of the English stage.
16.
Rex Harrison alternated appearances in London and New York in such plays as Bell, Book and Candle, Venus Observed, The Cocktail Party, The Kingfisher and The Love of Four Colonels, which he directed.
17.
Rex Harrison won his first Tony Award for his appearance at the Shubert Theatre as Henry VIII in Maxwell Anderson's play Anne of the Thousand Days and international superstardom for his portrayal of Henry Higgins in the stage musical My Fair Lady, where he appeared opposite Julie Andrews.
18.
Rex Harrison returned as Henry Higgins in the revival of My Fair Lady directed by Patrick Garland in 1981, cementing his association with the plays of George Bernard Shaw, which included a Tony nominated performance as Shotover in Heartbreak House, Julius Caesar in Caesar and Cleopatra, and General Burgoyne in a Los Angeles production of The Devil's Disciple.
19.
Rex Harrison had support roles in Get Your Man, Leave It to Blanche, and All at Sea, and a better part in Men Are Not Gods as a reporter in love with Miriam Hopkins; this was the first time Harrison worked for Alexander Korda.
20.
Rex Harrison's first starring role was in the romantic comedy Storm in a Teacup, opposite Vivien Leigh, for Korda.
21.
Rex Harrison starred in School for Husbands then reteamed with Leigh in St Martin's Lane.
22.
Rex Harrison had a key support role in The Citadel for MGM and starred in a comedy for Korda, Over the Moon alongside Merle Oberon.
23.
Rex Harrison starred in some thrillers: The Silent Battle, Ten Days in Paris and Night Train to Munich, the latter directed by Carol Reed and co starring Margaret Lockwood.
24.
Rex Harrison was then absent from screens due to war service.
25.
Rex Harrison returned to movies with the lead in Blithe Spirit, from the play by Noel Coward and directed by David Lean.
26.
Rex Harrison appeared opposite Anna Neagle in I Live in Grosvenor Square which was another big hit.
27.
Rex Harrison received an offer from 20th Century Fox to star in Anna and the King of Siam in Hollywood.
28.
In England Rex Harrison was in The Constant Husband for Sidney Gilliat and British Lion.
29.
Rex Harrison had a huge Broadway success in My Fair Lady based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play Pygmalion.
30.
Rex Harrison was offered top billing in MGM's The Reluctant Debutante alongside his wife Kay Kendall.
31.
Rex Harrison co-starred opposite Doris Day in Midnight Lace and Rita Hayworth in The Happy Thieves.
32.
Rex Harrison was overshone in terms of publicity by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, who had a famous affair, but his performance was the better received critically.
33.
Rex Harrison reprised his stage performance as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, for which he won an Oscar for Best Actor.
34.
Rex Harrison was one of several stars in the popular The Yellow Rolls-Royce, and played the Pope opposite Charlton Heston in Fox's The Agony and the Ecstasy, for Carol Reed.
35.
At the height of his box office clout after the success of My Fair Lady, Rex Harrison proved a temperamental force during production, demanding auditions for prospective composers after musical playwright Leslie Bricusse was contracted and demanding to have his singing recorded live during shooting, only to agree to have it re-recorded in post-production.
36.
Rex Harrison disrupted production with incidents with his wife, Rachel Roberts and deliberate misbehavior, such as when he intentionally moved his yacht in front of cameras during shooting in St Lucia and refused to move it out of sight due to contract disputes.
37.
Rex Harrison was at one point temporarily replaced by Christopher Plummer, until he agreed to be more cooperative.
38.
Rex Harrison was not by any objective standards a singer ; the music was written to allow for long periods of recitative, or "speaking to the music".
39.
Nevertheless, "Talk to the Animals", which Rex Harrison performed in Doctor Dolittle, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1967.
40.
Rex Harrison reunited with Mankiewicz in The Honey Pot, a modern adaptation of Ben Jonson's play Volpone.
41.
Rex Harrison made two more films for 20th Century Fox, both expensive play adaptations that failed at the box office: A Flea in Her Ear, and Staircase.
42.
Rex Harrison had small roles in Ashanti, The Fifth Musketeer and A Time to Die which was his last film.
43.
In 1947, while married to Palmer, Rex Harrison began an affair with actress Carole Landis.
44.
Terence Rattigan's 1973 play In Praise of Love was written about the end of this marriage, and Rex Harrison appeared in the New York production playing the character based on himself.
45.
Rex Harrison was married to Welsh actress Rachel Roberts from 1962 to 1971.
46.
Rex Harrison then married Elizabeth Rees-Williams, divorcing in 1975; finally, in 1978, he married Mercia Tinker, his sixth and final wife.
47.
Rex's younger son Carey Harrison is a playwright and social activist.
48.
Rex Harrison owned properties in London, New York City and Portofino, Italy.
49.
Rex Harrison was nominated for a third Tony Award in 1984 for his performance as Captain Shotover in the revival of George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House.
50.
Rex Harrison died from the effects of pancreatic cancer at his home in Manhattan, New York City, on 2 June 1990 at the age of 82.
51.
Rex Harrison had only been diagnosed with the disease a short time before.
52.
Rex Harrison's body was cremated, some of his ashes being subsequently scattered in Portofino, and the rest being scattered at his second wife Lilli Palmer's grave at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, in the Commemoration section, Map 1, Lot 4066, Space 2.
53.
On 17 June 1989, Rex Harrison was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
54.
Rex Harrison has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one at 6906 Hollywood Boulevard for his contribution to films, and the other at 6380 Hollywood Boulevard for his contribution to television.
55.
Rex Harrison is a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame.
56.
Seth MacFarlane, creator of the animated series Family Guy, modelled the voice of the character Stewie Griffin after Rex Harrison following seeing him in the film adaptation of My Fair Lady.
57.
Ex-CIA chief of disguise Jonna Mendez stated in 2019 that a mask of Rex Harrison was used by multiple CIA agents for covert work.
58.
Rex Harrison mentioned that his likeness was "taking part in a lot of operations".
59.
The masks came in small, medium and large sizes, with Rex Harrison's mold becoming the agency's standard "large" size.