UK: BEST OF BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM CELEBRATED AND BECOMES A TOAST TO THE LATE RICHARD HARRIS

Record ID: 636538

  • Title: UK: BEST OF BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM CELEBRATED AND BECOMES A TOAST TO THE LATE RICHARD HARRIS
  • Date: 4th December 2002
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAMANTHA MORTON SAYING "That Steven Spielberg would guarantee a cinema and Lynne Ramsay, even though she's brilliant and her films are brilliant, you know, in this country we don't have kind of the distribution that Americans films have or Hollywood movies have or the kind of the Steven Spielberg aspect has so, you know, that's the difference."
  • Embargoed: 19th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVA1SVI2DN9X34KPQJ9JYSY22BL3
  • Story Text: The best of British Independent Film was celebrated on Wednesday night (October 30) in London. The night became a toast to the late great Richard Harris, as award-winners and Harris' children celebrated the Irish actor's immense talent.
    The British Independent Film Awards became a night to honour the great Irish actor Richard Harris who died on Friday (October 25, 2002) after a battle with Hodgkin's Disease at the age of 72.
    About to entertain his new generation of fans again in the coming Harry Potter film, Harris will be irreplaceable as Professor Dumbledore.
    His children and granddaughter struggled to speak as they received the posthumous award for Outstanding Contribution by an Actor. Richard Harris initially turned down Warner's offer of the role of Dumbledore but they were so desperate that they repeatedly upped the money on offer. Finally it was Harris' granddaughter who managed to persuade him to star in the film version of the books she adored.
    Considered one of the most powerful and unpredictable stage and screen actors of the 20th century, Harris starred in some of the classic films of his generation, including A Man Called Horse, The Guns of Navarone and Mutiny on the Bounty.
    Other actors including James Nesbitt (winner of Best Actor for Paul Greengrass's Bloody Sunday) dedicated their award to the legendary actor.
    Other winners included Samantha Morton (Best Actress for Lynne Ramsay's Morvern Callar); Martin Compston (Most Promising Newcomer in Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen); Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding (Best Foreign Film in the English language).
    The late George Harrison, who founded HandMade Films, was posthumously awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award.
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