A new exhibition of photographs, videos and many personal items depicting the life of the late actor Richard Harris has opened in Limerick city.
The display, called 'Dickie to Richard', in The Hunt Museum tells the story of his life from childhood to his successful acting career.
It also includes the cloak he wore while playing wizard Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series.
Watch: Richard Harris exhibition opens in Limerick city
Director and CEO of the Hunt Museum Teresa Crowley said that the exhibition has been in development over the last three years and that it is the result of a collaboration between the Harris family, University College Cork and the museum.
Following his death in 2002, his family donated the actor's archive to UCC.
"We thought of his life like a stick of rock, with very strong threads running through his entire life, his love for his family, his creative pursuits and his global stardom," Ms Crowley said.
She said this helped create the pathway for the story of the exhibition.
Richard Harris was born in 1930 and grew up in a happy, prosperous household in Limerick.
He was fifth in a family of eight children.
He was educated at the Jesuit Crescent College where he excelled at rugby, but contracted TB in his late teens, which kept him bedridden for two years.
Mr Harris later said that it was during that convalescence that he turned to literature and developed a lifelong love for the written word, which translated into his interest in performing.
Moving to London in 1955, he trained at the prestigious London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.
He then met the influential theatre director Joan Littlewood who cast him in The Quare Fellow by Brendan Behan in 1956.
He then started getting some work in television, but it was his role as Frank, the classic angry young man in the 1963 movie 'This Sporting Life' that started his journey to film stardom.
He won 'Best Actor' at the Cannes Film Festival that year for his role in the film.
His global break came on the back of his role as King Arthur in Camelot.
The crown he used in the film is also included in the exhibition.
He went on to be cast in a number of films and his career spanned decades.
Other roles included The Field, Gladiator, A Man Called Horse, Unforgiven and Patriot Games.
His son Jared Harris, who is also an acclaimed actor, came to Limerick to open the exhibition.
Mr Harris said that his father was "a larger than life character, adding that "in many ways he had to restrain his personality for the camera".
He said that "to get the full effect of his personality, you had to see him either on stage, in a theatre piece, because then he just filled up the room".
Jared Harris said it was his role as Dumbledore in Harry Potter that introduced his father to a new generation and he is delighted that Dumbledore's costume is in the exhibition.
He said that the importance of his Limerick roots was always important to his father.
Richard Harris was often spotted wearing a Munster rugby jersey.
"He loved being brought right back, to who he was as a kid, as a young man," Jared Harris said.
"This is where his identity was forged and where that dream started, if you like," he added.
The exhibition runs until November in the Hunt Museum.
