Sir Reginald "Rex" Carey Harrison, KBE (5 March 1908 – 2 June 1990) was an Academy Award- and Tony Award-winning English theatre and film actor.

Harrison was born in Huyton, Knowsley, then part of Lancashire, and educated at Birkdale Preparatory School and Liverpool College. He first appeared on the stage in 1924 in Liverpool. Harrison's acting career was interrupted during World War II, whilst he served in the Royal Air Force, reaching the rank of Flight Lieutenant.http://www.foxhome.com/myfairlady/not/scn2/make2.htm He acted in various stage productions until 11 May 1990. He acted in the West End of London when he was young, appearing in the Terence Rattigan play French Without Tears, which proved to be his breakthrough role.

He continued to appear in London, in George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House, Pirandello's Enrico IV, and in 1984 he appeared at the Haymarket Theatre with Claudette Colbert in Frederick Lonsdale's Aren't We All?, and also on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre presented by Douglas Urbanski. He again appeared at the Haymarket in J. M. Barrie's The Admirable Crichton with Edward Fox.

Harrison's film debut was in The Great Game (1930), and other notable early films include The Citadel (1938), Night Train to Munich (1940), Major Barbara (1941), Blithe Spirit (1945), Anna and the King of Siam (1946), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), and The Foxes of Harrow (1947). He was best known for his portrayal of Professor Henry Higgins in the musical My Fair Lady, based on the George Bernard Shaw play Pygmalion, especially after he reprised the role in the 1964 film version, for which he won a Best Actor Oscar. The 1956 cast album set sales records at the time. He revived the role on stage in the early 1980s. He also starred in 1967's Doctor Dolittle. Harrison was not by general terms a singer; thus, the music was generally written to allow for long periods of recitative, generally identified as "speaking to the music". Although excelling in High Comedy (Noel Coward said "Rex Harrison is the greatest interpreter of high comedy in the world ... next to Me!"), he attracted favourable 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 appeared as an aging homosexual man opposite Richard Burton as his lover in Staircase. He also acted in a Hindi movie Shalimar alongside the Indian Superstar Dharmendra.

Harrison was married six times. In 1942 he divorced his first wife, Colette Thomas, and married actress Lilli Palmer the next year; the two later appeared together in numerous plays and films, including The Fourposter. After several years in film, he achieved wide acclaim starring in the adaptation of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit (1945). He followed that with his first major American film, starring as King Mongkut in Anna and the King of Siam. 1947 saw the release of the classic The Ghost and Mrs. Muir opposite the beautiful Gene Tierney.

In 1947 Harrison's began an affair with the beautiful Carole Landis. The affair became public but Harrison refused to leave his wife. Hollywood blamed Harrison for Carole's 1948 suicide and the scandal resulted in him losing his contract with Fox. Harrison and Palmer divorced in 1957. He soon remarried, to actress Kay Kendall. According to Palmer, Harrison requested a divorce to marry Kendall because he knew that she was dying from leukemia. After Kendall's untimely death, it was rumoured that he tried unsuccessfully to reconcile with Lilli. He was later married to Welsh-born Rachel Roberts, who later, like Landis, committed suicide by taking sleeping pills; then to Elizabeth Rees-Williams (the first wife of Irish actor Richard Harris); and to Mercia Tinker, who would become his widow in 1990.

The chronology of Harrison's six marriages is as follows: * Colette Thomas (1934-1942), (one son, the actor/singer Noel Harrison) * Lilli Palmer (1943-1957), (one son, the novelist/playwright Carey Harrison) * Kay Kendall (1957-1959) * Rachel Roberts (1962-1971) * Elizabeth Harris (1971-1975), (three stepsons, Damian Harris, Jared Harris and Jamie Harris) * Mercia Tinker (1978-1990)

On 25 July 1989, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, while an orchestra played the music of songs from My Fair Lady.

Having retired from films in the late 1970s, he had continued to act on Broadway until the very end, despite suffering from glaucoma, painful teeth and a failing memory. In 1990 he was appearing on Broadway in The Circle by W. Somerset Maugham, opposite Glynis Johns, when he fell ill. It was discovered that he had pancreatic cancer but had been unaware of it, and he died peacefully three weeks later in New York City at the age of 82, causing the show to end prematurely.

Rex Harrison has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one at 6906 Hollywood Boulevard for his contribution to motion pictures, and another at 6380 Hollywood Boulevard for his contribution to the television industry.

* The effete English-accented voice of Stewie Griffin in the animated TV show Family Guy was partially based on Harrison's voice.

* He was the spokesman for the Dodge Aspen.

* He was blind in one eye as the result of a childhood illness.

* In episode #9F13 of The Simpsons, "I Love Lisa," the class actor, a dramatist with a slight British accent, is named "Rex," a reference to Harrison.

* He was known by the nickname "Sexy Rexy", which he detested.

*The Great Game (1930) *School For Scandal (1930) *Get Your Man (1934) *Leave It to Blanche (1934) *All at Sea (1935) *Men Are Not Gods (1936) *Storm in a Teacup (1937) *School for Husbands (1937) *Sidewalks of London (1938) *The Citadel (1938) *The Silent Battle (1939) *Over the Moon (1939) *Ten Days in Paris (1940) *Night Train to Munich (1940) *Major Barbara (1941) *Blithe Spirit (1945) *A Yank in London (1945) *Notorious Gentleman (1945) *Journey Together (1946) *Anna and the King of Siam (1946) *The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) *The Foxes of Harrow (1947) *Escape (1948) *Unfaithfully Yours (1948) *The Long Dark Hall (1951) *The Four Poster (1952) *Main Street to Broadway (1953) *King Richard and the Crusaders (1954) *The Constant Husband (1955) *The Reluctant Debutante (1958) *Midnight Lace (1960) *The Happy Thieves (1962) *Cleopatra (1963) *My Fair Lady (1964) *The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964) *The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) *The Honey Pot (1967) *Doctor Dolittle (1967) *Phenomenal and the Treasure of Tutankamen (1968) *A Flea in Her Ear (1968) *Staircase (1969) *Crossed Swords (1977) *Shalimar (1978) *Ashanti (1979) *The Fifth Musketeer (1979) *A Time to Die (1982)

*The March of Time: On Stage! (1949) *The Fairest Fair Lady (1964) *Flashes Festival (1965)

Wins : *Academy Award for Best Actor for My Fair Lady (1964) *New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for My Fair Lady (1964) *National Board of Review Award for Best Actor for Cleopatra (1963) *Golden Glode Award for Best Performance by a actor in a Musical/Comedy for My Fair Lady (1964 film) *Tony Award for Best Actor (Dramatic) for Anne of the Thousand Days (1949) *Tony Award for Best Actor (Musical) for My Fair Lady (1957)

Nominations : *Academy Award for Best Actor for Cleopatra (1963) *BAFTA Award for Best British Actor for My Fair Lady *Tony Award for Best Actor (Play) for Heartbreak House (1984) *Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by a Actor in a Drama for Cleopatra (1963 film) *Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by a actor in a Drama for The Agony and the Ecstasy (1966 film) *Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by a Actor in a Musical/Comedy for Doctor Dolittle (1968)

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