"How will I remember him? Sure you could never forget him." The words of film director Jim Sheridan yesterday as he recalled the life of the late Richard Harris.
He had known Harris was ill but was shocked to learn of his death at a London hospital on Friday night.
Sheridan worked closely with Harris when he directed him as the Bull McCabe in The Field. Recalling that time he said Harris was nearly impossible to work with, but this was the sign of a good actor.
"Most great actors are nearly impossible to work with," he said. "When I was doing The Field with him he insisted on standing at the waterfall for two nights. I often felt he was like Abraham out of the Bible and I was like Isaac. It was like being with a hurricane. He was a great energy.
"Even in death he kind of leaves an energy behind that a lot of other people don't," he added. "He was unique. He was a character. He was very fond of his family and he was very generous. He heard I really liked Guggi's work so when we were finished filming he bought me a Guggi painting."
Film producer Mr Noel Pearson said there had been a lot of talk in recent days about Harris being a hell-raiser and a heavy drinker, but it should be remembered he was also a serious actor who won the prestigious Palm d'Or award in Cannes for the first feature length film in which he played a leading role, This Sporting Life.
"I think he was the first real acting star we've ever had," he said, adding that he had also written two books of poetry.
"He wasn't the easiest guy in the world to work with because he changed his mind a hundred times an hour but when it came to The Field, I had no doubt he was the man to play the Bull McCabe. The greatest thing about him was he was a great company to be with and he did not take himself very seriously. He told more stories against himself than most people in his world would dare to tell."
Mr Pearson also told of how when Harris fell ill at the Savoy in London and was being stretchered through the foyer to a waiting ambulance he sat up and shouted to bemused onlookers: "It was the food, it was the food!"
"He was a very good man to have as a friend and if you fell out with him, which I did many times, you would get a call some time later as if nothing had ever happened."
The producer of the Harry Potter films, in which Harris played Prof Albus Dumbledore, said he was "irreplaceable".
"He will be greatly missed," David Heyman said of the flamboyant star. "He is Dumbledore in many people's eyes. In truth he is irreplaceable. We will find a new Dumbledore but there will only be one Richard Harris," he told ITV News.
By coincidence, the third annual Kerry Film Festival was yesterday screening The Field in the Classic Cinema, Listowel, as part of a tribute to the late writer John B. Keane.
Billy Keane, the publican and writer, told the audience that initially his late father and Harris had not got on and had clashed during the making of the film. However, about six months before his father's death they had "a pint together over the phone", Keane in his pub in Listowel and Harris in the Savoy in London. "They parted good friends and had a great chat," Mr Keane said.
Harris will be remembered at memorial services in Dublin and London. Pearson said he understood the Dublin service would not take place "for a couple of weeks". The services will follow a private family funeral after which Harris's ashes will be taken to his home in the Bahamas.