Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 1 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
Noel Harrison AI simulator
(@Noel Harrison_simulator)
Hub AI
Noel Harrison AI simulator
(@Noel Harrison_simulator)
Noel Harrison
Noel John Christopher Harrison (29 January 1934 – 19 October 2013) was an English actor and singer. In the 1950s, he was a member of the British Olympic skiing team. In 1968, Harrison had a top-10 hit in the UK Singles Chart with "The Windmills of Your Mind". He was the son of actor Rex Harrison.
Harrison was born on 29 January 1934 in Kensington, London. His mother, Ethel Margery Noel Collette-Thomas, was the first of Rex Harrison's six wives; they divorced in 1942. Ethel and her cousin Richard Michael Collette Thomas (later a lieutenant-colonel killed in action in 1944, in France) were brought up together by their grandparents, Major John Cyril Collette-Thomas and Jessie Maud Scott-Brown, in Bude, North Cornwall. As a child, he attended Sunningdale School, where his father had also been a pupil. When he was 15, Ethel took young Noel out of school at Radley to live in the Swiss Alps.
Harrison never returned to school and began ski-racing. He joined the Ipswich repertory theatre group and taught himself guitar, but his main interest and most of his spare time was spent skiing. At an early age, he was a member of the British ski team, becoming its first giant-slalom champion in 1953, and representing Great Britain at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway, and at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
Harrison undertook National Service and, after leaving the army in the 1950s, toyed with the idea of becoming a journalist, but instead, concentrated on his guitar. His early break came when he took a regular part in the BBC Television programme Tonight, as part of a team who sang the day's news in a calypso style.
When Harrison was 20, he started playing professionally, around the tables in a Greek restaurant in London. He also made a living playing in bars and nightclubs all over Europe, including appearances at the Blue Angel nightclub in Mayfair, London, where one show was recorded for a live album.[citation needed]
After appearing in small roles in British films such as The Best of Enemies (1961), Hot Enough for June (1964) and Where the Spies Are (1965) Harrison left for the United States in 1965, working as a nightclub entertainer at such venues as the Hungry I in San Francisco, and at the Persian Room in New York City. Thanks to his managers Bob Chartoff and Irwin Winkler, who went on to produce the Rocky films, he had a record reach the charts. The track was "A Young Girl", written by Charles Aznavour. In the 1966–67 television season he appeared as Mark Slate in 29 episodes of the NBC series The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. as the costar of Stefanie Powers (April Dancer). A year earlier, Norman Fell originated his Mark Slate character on the original U.N.C.L.E. series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. in a second-season episode titled "The Galatea Affair". In 1968, Harrison appeared on an episode of To Tell the Truth in which the panel had to figure out which of three women was Harrison's then-wife Sara.
"Young Girl" was included as one of the tracks on Harrison's debut album, Noel Harrison, in 1966. Two years later, he recorded "The Windmills of Your Mind", the theme tune from the film The Thomas Crown Affair, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1968, and was also a Top 10 hit in the UK Singles Chart. Despite the song winning the 1968 Oscar for best original song, Harrison did not sing it at the ceremony. Instead his place was taken by Jose Feliciano. The change was made because he was working on the film, Take A Girl Like You in England, with Oliver Reed and Hayley Mills. Coincidentally, his father had sung the Oscar-winning song ("Talk to the Animals") only the previous year (1967).
The television series, plus the Top 40 record, landed Harrison a recording contract with Reprise, who released three of his albums, Collage, Santa Monica Pier and The Great Electric Experiment Is Over. Collage reached #135 in the United States Billboard 200 chart. He also toured with the Beach Boys, and Sonny and Cher, appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, featured on a music program, Hullabaloo and appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
Noel Harrison
Noel John Christopher Harrison (29 January 1934 – 19 October 2013) was an English actor and singer. In the 1950s, he was a member of the British Olympic skiing team. In 1968, Harrison had a top-10 hit in the UK Singles Chart with "The Windmills of Your Mind". He was the son of actor Rex Harrison.
Harrison was born on 29 January 1934 in Kensington, London. His mother, Ethel Margery Noel Collette-Thomas, was the first of Rex Harrison's six wives; they divorced in 1942. Ethel and her cousin Richard Michael Collette Thomas (later a lieutenant-colonel killed in action in 1944, in France) were brought up together by their grandparents, Major John Cyril Collette-Thomas and Jessie Maud Scott-Brown, in Bude, North Cornwall. As a child, he attended Sunningdale School, where his father had also been a pupil. When he was 15, Ethel took young Noel out of school at Radley to live in the Swiss Alps.
Harrison never returned to school and began ski-racing. He joined the Ipswich repertory theatre group and taught himself guitar, but his main interest and most of his spare time was spent skiing. At an early age, he was a member of the British ski team, becoming its first giant-slalom champion in 1953, and representing Great Britain at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway, and at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
Harrison undertook National Service and, after leaving the army in the 1950s, toyed with the idea of becoming a journalist, but instead, concentrated on his guitar. His early break came when he took a regular part in the BBC Television programme Tonight, as part of a team who sang the day's news in a calypso style.
When Harrison was 20, he started playing professionally, around the tables in a Greek restaurant in London. He also made a living playing in bars and nightclubs all over Europe, including appearances at the Blue Angel nightclub in Mayfair, London, where one show was recorded for a live album.[citation needed]
After appearing in small roles in British films such as The Best of Enemies (1961), Hot Enough for June (1964) and Where the Spies Are (1965) Harrison left for the United States in 1965, working as a nightclub entertainer at such venues as the Hungry I in San Francisco, and at the Persian Room in New York City. Thanks to his managers Bob Chartoff and Irwin Winkler, who went on to produce the Rocky films, he had a record reach the charts. The track was "A Young Girl", written by Charles Aznavour. In the 1966–67 television season he appeared as Mark Slate in 29 episodes of the NBC series The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. as the costar of Stefanie Powers (April Dancer). A year earlier, Norman Fell originated his Mark Slate character on the original U.N.C.L.E. series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. in a second-season episode titled "The Galatea Affair". In 1968, Harrison appeared on an episode of To Tell the Truth in which the panel had to figure out which of three women was Harrison's then-wife Sara.
"Young Girl" was included as one of the tracks on Harrison's debut album, Noel Harrison, in 1966. Two years later, he recorded "The Windmills of Your Mind", the theme tune from the film The Thomas Crown Affair, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1968, and was also a Top 10 hit in the UK Singles Chart. Despite the song winning the 1968 Oscar for best original song, Harrison did not sing it at the ceremony. Instead his place was taken by Jose Feliciano. The change was made because he was working on the film, Take A Girl Like You in England, with Oliver Reed and Hayley Mills. Coincidentally, his father had sung the Oscar-winning song ("Talk to the Animals") only the previous year (1967).
The television series, plus the Top 40 record, landed Harrison a recording contract with Reprise, who released three of his albums, Collage, Santa Monica Pier and The Great Electric Experiment Is Over. Collage reached #135 in the United States Billboard 200 chart. He also toured with the Beach Boys, and Sonny and Cher, appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, featured on a music program, Hullabaloo and appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
Recent media
Recent media