| Crowe flies in to pay tribute to Harris
Movie star Russell Crowe travelled to Ireland over the weekend to unveil
a bronze statue in honour of his friend and late Irish actor Richard
Harris.
The renowned hellraiser first met Crowe when they co-starred together in
the hit movie Gladiator.
From then on the pair forged a strong friendship and Crowe said of the
late actor: “Richard was a great guy and he was a very good friend.
“I met Richard at a time in his life when he was probably reflective of
what he had done over the time he had spent on the planet. He very
kindly passed a lot of wisdom on to me.”
Australian Crowe also revealed that while Harris was ill in hospital
they made a pact to attend the rugby union match between Ireland and
Australia but the Irishman died just weeks before the game. Crowe still
traveled to Ireland “to pay homage to a friend.”
The Cinderella Man star also wrote a song for his late friend which was
penned in Ireland on the back of a beer coaster.
Backed by local singers, a guitarist and an uileann piper Crowe sang the
“requiem in the idiom of a football song”, with the crowd clapping along
to show their support.
The statue shows the Limerick-born actor playing racquet-ball, something
he used to love to do when he holidayed in Kilkee, Co. Clare.
One of Harris’s sons Jared told the crowd that his father had “a deep,
deep affection for Kilkee”.
“He loved Kilkee; there was something in his heart in Kilkee. He fell in
love with movies in Kilkee by going to the old cinema there.”
Another son Damien said: “My father wasn’t a sentimental man, but he was
sentimental about Kilkee.”
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