From The Toronto Star, September 11, 2001


He said yes to King Lear but turned down Harry Potter - until his granddaughter changed his mind.

Richard Harris is at the Toronto International Film Festival to talk about his leading role in My Kingdom, the new film by Don Boyd that sets Shakespeare's tragedy in contemporary Liverpool, but what's really on his mind is how close he came to missing a role in one of the most eagerly awaited movies of the year: Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone.

Harris, who turns 71 on Oct. 1, plays Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Chris Columbus version of J.K. Rowling's novel, which is scheduled to open Nov. 16.

"I had never read the books," admits Harris as he sips coffee in the lounge of the Four Seasons Hotel. "All I knew was that they kept offering me the job and raising the salary every time they called me. And I turned them down for a very good reason."

Harris looks around conspiratorially, as though the evil Voldemort might be lurking behind the potted plants. "You see, anyone who signs up for the Potter films has to agree to be in the sequels - all of them! I didn't know if that's how I wanted to spend the last years of my life, and so I said no."

The two-time Best Actor Oscar nominee (This Sporting Life and The Field) chuckles as he recalls the flurry surrounding his reluctance. "Newspapers, radio, television all had a go at me. The world wanted into this film and this cantankerous f---er called Richard Harris said no.

"But then my granddaughter Ella, who is 11 and whom I worship with my life, came to me one day and said, 'Papa, I hear you're not going to be in the Harry Potter movie.' I told her that was indeed the case, and then she looked me right in the eye and said, 'If you don't play Dumbledore, then I will never speak with you again.'"

Harris holds out his hands to show how helpless he felt. "What could I do? I didn't dare have that hanging over my head, and so I said yes.

"It actually turned out to be a pleasant experience. I worked two days one week, then two weeks off, then a few more days' work. Maybe three weeks in all spread out over months. Very nice at my age, that's the way to do it."

He's also fond of his leading man, 12-year-old Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Potter. "Well, a bit before shooting started, Chris Columbus asked if I'd mind spending some time with the kids so they'd get used to me, and I said 'Sure.' So we all got together one evening, and I sat there showing them card tricks while they sat around discussing show business.

"Finally Chris got us to read some of our scenes together, and when I finished, young Daniel said to me, 'That was quite a good reading. I think you'll be good in the part.' Lord, to have that much confidence at his age. I don't have that much confidence now."

Although he hadn't read the books before accepting the role, Harris has come to have great respect for author Rowling. "I'd like to crawl inside her mind and her bank account. Her command of language is extraordinary. My name, Albus Dumbledore, means 'a white Dorset bumblebee,' and that's certainly what I look like nowadays."