<P> Richard St John Harris ( 1 October 1930 -- 25 October 2002 ) was an Irish actor and singer . He appeared on stage and in many films , appearing as Frank Machin in This Sporting Life , for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor , King Arthur in the 1967 film Camelot and the subsequent 1981 revival of the show . He played an aristocrat and prisoner in A Man Called Horse ( 1970 ) , a gunfighter in Clint Eastwood 's Western film Unforgiven ( 1992 ) , Emperor Marcus Aurelius in Gladiator ( 2000 ) , and Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films : the Philosopher 's Stone ( 2001 ) and the Chamber of Secrets ( 2002 ) . Harris had a number one hit in Australia and Canada and a top ten hit in the United Kingdom and United States with his 1968 recording of Jimmy Webb 's song `` MacArthur Park '' . </P>
<P> Richard St John Harris ( 1 October 1930 -- 25 October 2002 ) was an Irish actor and singer . He appeared on stage and in many films , appearing as Frank Machin in This Sporting Life , for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor , King Arthur in the 1967 film Camelot and the subsequent 1981 revival of the show . He played an aristocrat and prisoner in A Man Called Horse ( 1970 ) , a gunfighter in Clint Eastwood 's Western film Unforgiven ( 1992 ) , Emperor Marcus Aurelius in Gladiator ( 2000 ) , and Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films : the Philosopher 's Stone ( 2001 ) and the Chamber of Secrets ( 2002 ) . Harris had a number one hit in Australia and Canada and a top ten hit in the United Kingdom and United States with his 1968 recording of Jimmy Webb 's song `` MacArthur Park '' . </P>
who was the first person to play dumbledore
who was the first person to play dumbledore
Richard St John Harris
Richard St John Harris