Oscar-winning actor Sir Rex Harrison, who taught the king's English in "My Fair Lady" and talked to animals as the lovable Dr. Dolittle during a 66-year career, died in his sleep Saturday. He was 82.
The actor, a stage and screen star in the United States and his native England, died of pancreatic cancer at his Manhattan home, said his attorney, Harold Schiff."To watch him and to work with him was a joyful experience," said Julie Andrews, who played Eliza Doolittle to Harrison's professor Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady" on Broadway for three years.
"I doubt there was anyone before like him. The theater has lost an extraordinary one-of-a-kind."
Harrison won a Tony award for his Broadway portrayal of Higgins and earned a best-actor Academy Award for his screen version opposite Audrey Hepburn.
"He was the essence of a great actor, a fabulous technician. He had a wonderful sense of humor, fabulous diction," Hepburn said. "He was the personification of a superb actor, the quintessential actor."
Harrison had been ill only a short time and did not know he had cancer, Schiff said. Doctors told him he was suffering from gall bladder trouble, the lawyer said.
"He just thought he was not well. He didn't want to know," Schiff said.
Harrison, who debuted on Broadway in 1936, died three weeks after his latest appearance there May 11. He played Lord Porteous in W. Somerset Maugham's 1920s comedy "The Circle," which is vying for "best revival" honors at Sunday night's Tony Awards ceremony.
"He died with his boots on, no question about it," said "Circle" producer Elliot Martin, referring to Harrison's decision not to retire.
"He wanted to be on the stage. That was it. That was his life," Schiff said. "He didn't care about retiring, he didn't care about anything else but the theater."
Harrison was best known for his high-tone Higgins in "My Fair Lady."
"Mr. Harrison is perfect in the part - crisp, lean, complacent and condescending until at last a real flare of human emotions burns the egotism away," New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson wrote.
The musical version of George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion" opened on Broadway in 1956, with the film coming out eight years later. Harrison reprised his role in a 1981 Broadway revival that earned him $50,000 a week.
Harrison, who characterized his vocal range as "one and a half notes," half-spoke, half-crooned "I've grown accustomed to her face" hundreds of times as the stuffy language professor who falls in love with a Cockney waif after teaching her how to overcome her lower-class accent and speak proper English.
"I could have played Higgins for 20 years, but I wanted to do other things," Harrison said in 1985. "And I did, in fact."
Among them was his role as Dr. Dolittle, the fanciful jungle gentleman who conversed with wildlife. The film introduced Harrison to a new generation of young moviegoers. Earlier prominent roles came in the 1940 film "Major Barbara" and "Blithe Spirit" in 1945.
"He had the best sense of humor of almost any actor I have ever known," said his agent, Lawrence Evans, who worked with Harrison for more than 40 years. "He was a lovable, irascible man."
Harrison was born in Huyton, near Liverpool, on March 5, 1908, and joined the Liverpool Repertory Theatre in 1924.
His first appearance on the London stage was in 1930. By the end of the decade he emerged as a star, appearing in Sir Terence Rattigan's "French Without Tears" from 1936 to 1938. He last appeared on the London stage in "The Admirable Crichton" in 1988.
In addition to his awards for "My Fair Lady," Harrison won a Tony for his portrayal of Henry VIII in Maxwell Anderson's "Anne of the Thousand Days" and a special American Theater Award for his overall stage achievements.
He was knighted last year by Queen Elizabeth II and described the event as "a marvelous moment."
Harrison, dubbed "Sexy Rexy" by the late columnist Walter Winchell, was married six times. He is survived by his wife, Mercia Tinker; a sister; two sons by previous marriages; and several grandchildren.
Harrison's funeral will be private, but there will be a public memorial service June 18 at the Little Church Around the Corner in Manhattan. Harrison requested that the service feature jazz music, Schiff said.