Harris’s €500,000 parking bill

RICHARD HARRIS landed his widow with a €500,000 parking bill for a car he put in a garage and forgot about.

The Limerick actor was given a Rolls Royce Phantom as part of a deal for appearing with Kirk Douglas in the 1965 film The Heroes of Telemark.

The World War Two drama, which was filmed in Norway, was moderately successful but Mr Harris obviously forgot about the car. It lay in a New York car park for a quarter of a century at a cost of €350 a week.

His widow and first wife Elizabeth Harris is selling the midnight blue Rolls Royce to pay off the bill.

“It’s heartbreaking to have to let it go but as his sole trustee, I have to get his affairs in order,” she said.

The Rolls Royce car will be sold by Christie’s and has a list price of €205,000.

Although Mr Harris was declared bankrupt twice during his career, his estate should be able to pay off the fees. He earned large sums for playing Professor Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films.

“It surprises me because I always figured that he was no fool with his money. To think that he would allow a car to rack up that sort of charges doesn’t sound like the Dickie Harris I knew,” said Limerick Councillor Jack Bourke, who gave Mr Harris his first stage role at the City Theatre in Limerick.

Mr Bourke has proposed the city should erect a statue of the actor and former Garryowen player on a newly pedestrianised section between O’Connell Street and Bedford Row.

“Unfortunately, we can’t award someone the Freedom of the City posthumously. But the statue would be a great feature and there is room for it,” he said.

A memorial service for Mr Harris takes place in London next month on the first anniversary of his death.