Rolf Harris was an Australian entertainer, musician, singer-songwriter, composer, comedian, actor, painter, television personality and convicted sex offender. He often used unusual instruments in his performances: he played the didgeridoo and the stylophone and is credited with inventing the oscillating table.
Bio
Age-93years
Weight-68 kg
Height-1.83 m
Born- 30 March 1930
Birthplace-Bassendean, Australia
Death-10 May 2023
Death place-Bray, United Kingdom
Personal Life
Family
Harris was born in Bassendean, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, to Agnes Margaret (née Robbins) and Cromwell (Crom) Harris, who both emigrated from Cardiff, Wales. He grew up in Wembley, Perth. He was named after Rolf Boldrewood, the pseudonym of an Australian author whom his mother admired.
Wife
In 1958, Harris married Welsh sculptor and jeweler’s Alwen Hughes in London while they were both art students. At the wedding, they had a dog as a bridesmaid.
Children
Rolf daughter Bindi Nicholls, 59, always stood by her disgraced father and sensationally scolded her generation for their flirtatious behavior.
Education
Rolf, educated at Bassendean State School and Perth Modern School in Subiaco, Harris later obtained a BA from the University of Western Australia and a Diploma in Education from Claremont Teachers College (now Edith Cowan University). When he was only 16 years old and still studying at the Perth Modern School, his self-portrait in oil was one of 80 works accepted for hanging in the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Career
Rolf was employed by ‘BBC’ to feature in a program called Jigsaw in 1953 he made his appearance on the show ‘Whirligig’, aired on BBC in 1954.In addition to the BBC, he also appeared on British ITV television, becoming the only artist to grace both broadcasters before 1955. In 1959, he recorded his debut song, and he also appeared in movies and television shown in 1973, Rolf sang at the ‘Sydney Opera House’, making it his first ever public performance1989-93, Harris hosted the ‘ITV’ program, in 2004 he joined an NGO for needy children’s in 2005, he revealed his painting of Queen Elizabeth, to mark her 80th birth anniversary after overall career On 4 August 2022, ITV announced that it had commissioned a two-part documentary featuring interviews with Harris’s victims, police investigators and colleagues. Made by Optomen and given the working title of Rolf Harris: Hiding in Plain Sight, the two 60-minute episodes for ITVX were executive-produced by Tina Flint off and Nick Hornby. The documentary premiered on ITVX on 18 May 2023.
Achievements
In 1947 Rolf won the Archibald Prize. He painted a portrait of the then Lieutenant Governor of Western Australia, Sir James Mitchell, for the Archibald Prize of 1948. He won the 1949 Claude Hot chin Prize for Oil Painting with the landscape On a May Morning, Guildford. As a youth, Harris was a champion swimmer. In 1946, he was the Australian junior champion in the 100 m backstroke. He was also Western Australian State Champion in various trips and stakes between 1948 and 1952. In 1994 Rolf awarded ARIA Award for Best Comedy Release. In 2008 Rolf awarded ARIA Hall of Fame.
Filmography
- You Lucky People in 1955
- Jim Whittington and His Sea lion in 1956
- Background for Murder in 1958
- Full Moon in1959
- The Flight of the Red Shadow in 1959
- Underpaid! Or, Grandad’s SOS in 1959
- Web of Suspicion in 1959
- Crash Drive in 1959
- The Doll Maker in 1960
- To Tell the Truth in 1963
- Christmas Night with the Stars in 1968
- The Little Convict in 1979
- Highway Christmas Special in 1985
- Have You Ever Seen a Dream Walking in 1998
- Fetch on TV in 2001
- Olive the Ostrich in 2011
- The Fruit Cases in 2011
- Run For Your Wife in 2012
Net Worth
Harris had a net worth of $19 million.
Cause Of Death
In October 2022, Harris was suffering from neck cancer, was unable to speak and was being fed through a tube. He also required 24-hour care.
Harris died at his home in Bray, Berkshire, England, on 10 May 2023, aged 93. His death was not publicly announced until 23 May to allow for a “dignified burial”, when officials from the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Register Office confirmed it to the media. His death certificate listed the cause of death as neck cancer and “the infirmities of old age”.
Sexual Allegiance
A woman is suing Rolf Harris after she claims the pedophile entertainer sexually assaulted her when she was 10 years old.
The woman says she was a member of a Melbourne congregation when Harris allegedly molested her in 1982, the Herald Sun reported.
Harris served three years in prison in Britain after being found guilty of 12 indecent assaults on four underage girls. One charge was overturned on appeal.
The Melbourne woman claims she was introduced to Harris after he played a show at Mount Eliza Camp on the Morning ton Peninsula. In June 2014, he was found guilty of (and in July 2014 he was sentenced to 5 years and 9 months) 12 historic indecent assaults against four girls aged between 8 and 19 at the time of the assaults. On August 1, 2014, the Department of Justice announced that Harris had requested leave to appeal his conviction and that his lawyers had filed documents with the appeals court. In October 2014, Harris was denied an appeal. Since the conviction, more reports have been filed. Published about alleged sex crimes against young girls and women continued to occur to the police.