Rex Harrison Biography Quotes 4 Report mistakes

Early Life
Rex Harrison, born Reginald Carey Harrison on March 5, 1908, in Huyton, Lancashire, England, grew up to embody a particularly British blend of wit, poise, and crisp diction that would define his screen and stage persona. Drawn early to the theater, he entered the world of repertory companies in the 1920s, building craft and confidence through constant work. The discipline of provincial stages trained him in timing, language, and the understated irony that became a signature, preparing him for the West End and, later, for international acclaim.

Stage Breakthrough
By the mid-1930s he was a presence on the London stage, with his breakthrough coming in Terence Rattigan's French Without Tears in 1936. The role established him as an urbane leading man with a light touch, a quality that directors and playwrights valued in comedies of manners. That polished style would serve him across genres, from drawing-room farce to high romance and, ultimately, musical theater. His stage work secured him a reputation among peers and critics as a master of subtext and conversational rhythm, setting the foundation for his later triumphs.

Screen Career
Harrison's film career began in Britain before World War II. He quickly became a familiar face in such features as Storm in a Teacup (opposite Vivien Leigh) and Night Train to Munich (with Margaret Lockwood, directed by Carol Reed), where his intelligence and dry charm translated effortlessly to the screen. After the war he starred in David Lean's Blithe Spirit and moved into major Hollywood productions including Anna and the King of Siam opposite Irene Dunne. He followed with The Ghost and Mrs. Muir alongside Gene Tierney, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, a film that showed a richer, more haunting romanticism beneath his cultivated exterior.

His screen authority deepened in the 1960s. In Cleopatra he portrayed Julius Caesar opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, bringing calm, measured gravitas to a famously turbulent production. He played Pope Julius II in The Agony and the Ecstasy with Charlton Heston and returned to his deft comic instincts in later films. Though he cultivated an image of sophistication, he was capable of sly, self-deprecating humor and a willingness to underplay that let audiences discover emotion rather than be instructed by it.

My Fair Lady
Harrison's defining professional collaboration came with lyricist-librettist Alan Jay Lerner, composer Frederick Loewe, and director Moss Hart in My Fair Lady. Originating the role of Professor Henry Higgins on Broadway in 1956 opposite Julie Andrews, he created a model of musical performance that relied as much on spoken rhythm and patter as on traditional singing. His talk-sung delivery of I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face and Why Can't the English? became a benchmark for character-driven musical acting. The production, further bolstered by Stanley Holloway and a peerless score, won him a Tony Award and sealed his transatlantic stardom.

He reprised Higgins in the 1964 film adaptation directed by George Cukor, co-starring Audrey Hepburn (with singing dubbed by Marni Nixon) and Wilfrid Hyde-White. The film earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor, confirming that his understated vocal style and forensic precision with language could carry cinema on a grand scale. Few performances so clearly link stage and screen; fewer still altered the expectations of how a musical role could be shaped by character rather than vocal display.

Later Career
Harrison continued to navigate between stage and screen. He revisited Higgins in revivals and toured widely, drawing devoted audiences who associated him with the role's blend of erudition and irascibility. In Doctor Dolittle he led a lavish movie musical, and in Staircase he acted opposite Richard Burton in a two-hander that tested his dramatic restraint. He also returned to classic comedy and high society plays, his name alone signaling a certain elegance of language and manner. Late in life he appeared again on Broadway, including in The Circle by W. Somerset Maugham, demonstrating the durability of his technique and the loyalty of his public.

Personal Life
Harrison's private world was as eventful as his career. He married multiple times, and his relationships with actresses Lilli Palmer, Kay Kendall, and Rachel Roberts became part of his public story. With Palmer he shared a period of artistic stability; their son, Carey Harrison, became a novelist and playwright. With his first wife he had a son, Noel Harrison, who forged his own path as a singer and actor. His marriage to Kay Kendall was brief and poignant due to her early death, remembered for the compassion shown by those closest to them. His union with Rachel Roberts was intense and creative, marked by passion and volatility. Earlier, his connection with Carole Landis in the 1940s brought painful scrutiny after her tragic death, a reminder that his charm and fame could not shield him from the harsher glare of celebrity.

Despite turbulence, friends and colleagues frequently testified to his professional generosity: he could be exacting in rehearsal yet protective of partners on stage, and he maintained enduring ties with collaborators such as Julie Andrews, Stanley Holloway, and directors like George Cukor and Carol Reed. Those who worked with him often spoke of his fierce commitment to getting the rhythm of a scene right, whether it was comic banter or a moment of quiet revelation.

Honors and Legacy
Harrison earned theater's highest accolades, including Tony Awards for Anne of the Thousand Days and My Fair Lady, and film's greatest distinction with the Academy Award for My Fair Lady. In 1989 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, recognition that linked his name with the national stage tradition he exemplified. His technique, rooted in precision of speech and a cool intelligence, influenced generations of actors who discovered that musical roles could be acted as rigorously as spoken drama.

His legacy remains intertwined with the evolution of mid-20th-century English-speaking theater and cinema. He brought the clipped clarity of the West End to Hollywood epics, the poise of drawing-room comedy to Broadway spectacle, and a singular balance of detachment and feeling to characters who could have seemed merely superior or brittle in lesser hands. Colleagues from Audrey Hepburn to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton helped frame his star persona, but it was Harrison's capacity to listen, to shape silence as carefully as sound, that made his performances endure.

Final Years
In his last years, Harrison continued to perform, relishing the rigor of live theater and the instant conversation with an audience. He remained active on the New York and London stages, his presence both nostalgic and assured. He died in New York City on June 2, 1990, closing a career that had begun in the repertory trenches of the 1920s and culminated in knighthood and international renown. Tributes from stage and screen colleagues across Britain and America emphasized not only the iconic Higgins and the indelible film roles, but also the craft that made them possible: the exact word, the right pause, and the elegant, unmistakable voice of Rex Harrison.

Our collection contains 4 quotes who is written by Rex, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Live in the Moment - Aging.

Other people realated to Rex: Anna Neagle (Actress), Charlton Heston (Actor), Myrna Loy (Actress), Roddy McDowall (Actor), Martin Landau (Actor), Preston Sturges (Writer), Vanessa Brown (Actress), Moss Hart (Playwright)