Elizabeth Harris Aitken Dies Aged 85: Socialite Wife To Richard Harris And Rex Harrison, Later A Prison Chaplain’s Wife
By Caroline Frost (Deadline) 4/18/2022
Elizabeth Harris Aitken, who was married four times, including to two film superstars and a pair of cousins, died aged 85 on Friday April 15.
The socialite, author and family matriarch was most recently the wife of Jonathan Aitken, formerly disgraced politician who served in John Major’s Conservative government cabinet, turned devoted Christian and prison chaplain.
When Elizabeth Aitken wrote her memoirs aged 40, she titled them Love, Honour and Dismay, and dedicated them to “RH” – which could have been either her first husband, Richard Harris, or her second, Rex Harrison.
Born Elizabeth Rees-Williams in 1936 in Wales, Aitken was the child of a Labour MP. She attended London’s Royal Academy for Dramatic Art herself, where she was in the company of future stars Peter O’Toole, Alan Bates and Albert Finney, but she became best known as the partner of Irish actor Richard Harris. The couple married in 1957. They stayed together for 11 years and had three sons, including Chernobyl and Mad Men star Jared Harris, but life was complicated by Richard’s legendary revelling and constant absences.
Aitken went on to marry the far more stable but equally miserable Rex Harrison. Despite their glamorous life on the French Riviera, Harrison – who had four previous wives – made no attempt to become a loving family man. Jared Harris later described family meals at the dinner table as excruciating.
In the 1980s, Aitken briefly married Peter Aitken, the cousin of Jonathan, whom she had previously had an affair with. Her third marriage was by her own account disastrous, but her reunion with Jonathan proved far happier.
They met again in 2001 when she attended a play starring her son Jamie Harris, alongside Jack Davenport, nephew of Jonathan Aitken. By this time, Jonathan was recently out of prison having perjured himself in an infamous libel trial, and had become a devout Christian who would later became a prison chaplain.
Thus, after they married in 2003, Elizabeth Harris, former legendary socialite and party giver and goer, became a chaplain’s wife. She was also a committed homemaker to her extended family, including her three sons Damian, a film director, BAFTA-winning Jared and fellow actor Jamie.
R.I.P. Elizabeth Harris Aitken
Whether they are behind the camera or in front of it, this is the place to discuss all filmmakers regardless of their role in the filmmaking process.
Jump to
- Announcements
- ↳ General Announcements
- Introductions
- ↳ Let Me Introduce Myself...
- The Academy Awards
- ↳ The 10th Decade
- ↳ 97th Academy Awards
- ↳ 96th Academy Awards
- ↳ 95th Academy Awards
- ↳ 94th Academy Awards
- ↳ 93rd Academy Awards
- ↳ 92nd Academy Awards
- ↳ 91st Academy Awards
- ↳ The 9th Decade
- ↳ 90th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 90th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 89th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 89th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 88th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 88th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 87th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 87th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 86th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 86th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 85th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 85th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 84th Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 84th Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 83rd Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 83rd Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 82nd Nominations and Winners
- ↳ 82nd Predictions and Precursors
- ↳ 81st and Other 9th Decade Discussions
- ↳ The 8th Decade
- ↳ The Damien Bona Memorial Oscar History Thread
- ↳ Other Oscar Discussions
- General Film Discussions
- ↳ 2020s
- ↳ Coming Soon
- ↳ 2024
- ↳ 2023
- ↳ 2022
- ↳ 2021
- ↳ 2020
- ↳ 2010s
- ↳ 2019
- ↳ 2018
- ↳ 2017
- ↳ 2016
- ↳ 2015
- ↳ 2014
- ↳ 2013
- ↳ 2012
- ↳ 2011
- ↳ 2010
- ↳ 2000s
- ↳ 2009
- ↳ 2008
- ↳ 2000 - 2007
- ↳ The First Century
- ↳ Dream Projects
- ↳ The People
- ↳ Other Film Discussions
- Miscellaneous Discussions
- ↳ Help Forum
- ↳ DVD Discussions
- ↳ Current Events
- ↳ Broadcast Media
- ↳ The Cam Dagg Memorial Theatre and Literature Forum
- ↳ General Off-Topic