page_title: Rex Harrison
section_title: Cinema appearances
hierarchical_section_title: Rex Harrison / Cinema appearances
caption_attribution_description: Screenshot of Rex Harrison and Elizabeth Taylor from the trailer for the film Cleopatra.
context_page_description: Sir Reginald Carey Harrison, known as Rex Harrison, was an English actor of stage and screen. Harrison began his career on the stage in 1924. He made his West End debut in 1936 appearing in the Terence Rattigan play French Without Tears, in what was his breakthrough role. He won his first Tony Award for his performance as Henry VIII in the play Anne of the Thousand Days in 1949. He won his second Tony for the role of Professor Henry Higgins in the stage production of My Fair Lady in 1957.
  In addition to his stage career, Harrison also appeared in numerous films. His first starring role was opposite Vivien Leigh in the romantic comedy Storm in a Teacup. Receiving critical acclaim for his performance in Major Barbara, which was shot in London during the Blitz, his roles since then include Blithe Spirit, Anna and the King of Siam, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Cleopatra, My Fair Lady, and the title role of the English doctor who talks to animals, Doctor Dolittle.
  In June 1989, Harrison was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. In 1975, Harrison released his first autobiography. His second, A Damned Serious Business: My Life in Comedy, was published posthumously in 1991.
context_section_description: Harrison's film debut was in The Great Game (1930). His first starring role was in the romantic comedy Storm in a Teacup (1937), opposite Vivien Leigh. Other notable early films include The Citadel (1938), Night Train to Munich (1940), Major Barbara (1941)—filmed in London during The Blitz of 1940, a role for which he received critical acclaim, Blithe Spirit (1945), Anna and the King of Siam (1946), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), and The Foxes of Harrow (1947). He is best known for his portrayal of Professor Henry Higgins in the 1964 film version of My Fair Lady, based on the 1956 Broadway production (which in turn was based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play Pygmalion), for which Harrison won an Oscar for Best Actor.
  He also starred in 1967's Doctor Dolittle. At the height of his box office clout after the success of My Fair Lady, Harrison proved a domineering 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. He also 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. Harrison was at one point temporarily replaced by Christopher Plummer, until he agreed to be more cooperative.
  He starred in the 1968 comedy The Honey Pot, a modern adaptation of Ben Jonson's play Volpone. Two of his co-stars, Maggie Smith and Cliff Robertson, were to become lifelong friends. Both spoke at his New York City memorial at the Little Church Around the Corner when Harrison died in 1990.
  Harrison was not by any objective standards a singer (the talking on pitch style he used in My Fair Lady would be adopted by many other classically trained actors with limited vocal ranges); the music was written to allow for long periods of recitative, or "speaking to the music". Nevertheless, "Talk to the Animals", which Harrison performed in Doctor Dolittle, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1967.
  Despite excelling in comedy (Noël Coward described him as "The best light comedy actor in the world—except for me."), he attracted favorable notices in dramatic roles such as his portrayal of Julius Caesar in Cleopatra (1963) and as Pope Julius II in The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965), opposite Charlton Heston as Michelangelo. He also acted in a Hindi film Shalimar alongside Indian Bollywood star Dharmendra as well as appearing opposite Richard Burton as two aging homosexuals in Staircase (1969).
caption: Harrison as Julius Caesar in  Cleopatra (1963) for which he was nominated for an Academy Award
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