Brad Harris

Brad Harris
Bradford Harris (July 16, 1933 – November 7, 2017) was an American actor, stuntman, and executive producer. He appeared in a variety of roles in over 50 films, mostly in European productions. He was an inductee in the Stuntman's Hall of Fame.
Life and career
Born in St. Anthony, Idaho, Harris' family moved to California, where he attended Burbank High School, then received an athletic scholarship to UCLA where he studied economics. When he injured his knee playing football he was advised to take up weightlifting to strengthen the injury that developed his interest in bodybuilding.
Harris entered films as a stand-in, stuntman, and later an actor. His first roles were in André de Toth's Monkey on My Back and Li'l Abner. With his athletic physique, Harris travelled to Rome to watch the 1960 Summer Olympics and perform stunts in Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus. He stayed in Europe for the boom in European sword and sandal, Eurospy, and Spaghetti Western genres.
Harris discovered, when working in Germany, that stunt coordinators were nonexistent in that country and he often did extra duties as a stuntman, stunt coordinator, and second unit director as well as an actor.
Harris made his debut as a leading man in 1961 in the title role of Gianfranco Parolini's Goliath Against the Giants and Samson. He would have a long, continuing relationship in several films written and directed by Parolini. Harris also began to be teamed with Tony Kendall, starting with the Western Pirates of the Mississippi. He later married his co-star in Black Eagle of Santa Fe, the sequel to that film.
He married Czech actress Olga Schoberová on November 16, 1967 and divorced in 1969. They had a daughter named Babrinka (Sabrina).
Harris teamed again with Kendall and Parolini in the Kommissar X series, and The Three Fantastic Supermen/I Fantastici Tre Supermen (1967) series.
He served as executive producer on several of his films including King of Kong Island (which he also starred in) and Jack Cardiff's The Mutations. He later made seven appearances on the American soap opera Falcon Crest as "Deputy Duffy". His most recent film was the Andrea Zaccariello's comedy Boom, released in 1999.
Harris invented and marketed exercise products called "AB-OrigOnals." He owned a company called Modern Body Design. In 2015 he was awarded the University of Arizona College of Humanities’ Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award in the Humanities. He died on November 7, 2017, at the age of 84.
Selected filmography
The McConnell Story (1955) - Pilot (uncredited)
Monkey on My Back (1957) - Spike McAvoy
Speed Crazy (1959) - Bit Part (uncredited)
Li'l Abner (1959) - Muscleman Luke (uncredited)
Tall Story (1960) - Student by Fire (uncredited)
13 Fighting Men (1960) - Pvt. Fowler
Ocean's 11 (1960) - Minor Role (uncredited)
Spartacus (1960) - Gladiator / Soldier (uncredited)
Goliath Against the Giants (1961) - Goliath
Samson (1961) - Samson
The Fury Of Hercules (1962) - Hercules
The Hot Port of Hong Kong (1962) - Polizeiinspektor McLean
It Happened in Athens (1962) - Garrett (uncredited)
79 A.D. (1962) - Marcus Tiberius
The Old Testament (1962) - Simone
The Black Panther of Ratana (1963) - Larry Finch
The Pirates of the Mississippi (1963) - Tom Cook
Mission to Hell (1964) - Joe Warren
Mystery of the Red Jungle (1964) - Larry McLean
The Secret of the Chinese Carnation (1964) - Donald Ramsey
Massacre at Marble City (1964) - Phil Stone
Black Eagle of Santa Fe (1965) - Cliff McPherson
Our Man in Jamaica (1965) - Captain Mike Jefferson
Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill (1966) - Capt. Tom Rowland
Kommissar X – Drei gelbe Katzen (aka Death is Nimble, Death is Quick) (1966) - Capt. Tom Rowland
Kommissar X – In den Klauen des goldenen Drachen (aka So Darling So Deadly) (1966) - Capt. Tom Rowland
The Three Fantastic Supermen (1967) - Brad McCallum
The Ten Million Dollar Grab (1967) - Robert Colman
Kommissar X – Drei grüne Hunde (aka Death Trip) (1967) - Capt. Tom Rowland
Spy Today, Die Tomorrow (1967) - Cliff
Un hombre vino a matar (1967) - Sheriff Bill Manners
Kommissar X - Drei blaue Panther (1968) - Capt. Tom Rowland
Cin cin... cianuro (1968) - George
King of Kong Island (1968) - Burt Dawson
Kommissar X – Drei goldene Schlangen (1969) - Capt. Tom Rowland
Poppea's Hot Nights (1969) - Claudio Valerio
Patton (1970) - Sergeant in Bar (uncredited)
Che fanno i nostri supermen tra le vergini della jungla? (1970) - Captain Brad Scott
Quando suona la campana (1970) - Don Vincenzo
(1970) - Ken Stark
(1970) - Sabata
The Mad Butcher (1971) - Mike Lawrence
Arriva Durango... paga o muori (1971) - Durango
Il ritorno del gladiatore più forte del mondo (1971) - Marzio
Kommissar X jagt die roten Tiger (aka Tiger Gang) (1971) - Capt. Tom Rowland
Seminò morte... lo chiamavano il Castigo di Dio! (1972) - Django / Durango
Zambo, il dominatore della foresta (1972) - George Ryon aka Zambo
Questa volta ti faccio ricco! (1974) - Brad McCoy
The Girl in Room 2A (1974) - Charlie
The Mutations (1974) - Brian Redford
Who Breaks... Pays (1975) - Placido
Lady Dracula (1977) - Kommissar
The Beast in Heat (1977) - Don Lorenzo (uncredited)
Brass Target (1978) - Lt. Rowan
Zwei tolle Käfer räumen auf (1979) - Don Fernando Hidalgo
Mie jue qi qi (1980) - Leopard
Good-bye, Cruel World (1983) - Policeman
Hercules (1983) - King Augeias
The Seven Magnificent Gladiators (1983) - Scipio
Death Stone (1987) - Brain
Boom (1999) - Gordon Steele (segment "Il figlio di Maciste")
Shiver (2012) - The Captain (final film role)
References
External links
Brad Harris bio on (re)Search my Trash
1933 births
2017 deaths
20th-century American male actors
American bodybuilders
American expatriates in Italy
American male film actors
American male soap opera actors
American stunt performers
Male actors from Idaho
Male Spaghetti Western actors
People associated with physical culture
People from St. Anthony, Idaho