I’m guessing that at some point, you’ve forgotten where you parked your car. I am also guessing, however, that you at least remembered having the car in the first place. But then, you are not actor Richard Harris, a legend of the 1960s silver screen and a rampaging bad boy of the era. Now most famous as the Dumbledore of the first two Harry Potter movies and the father of actor Jared Harris, Richard in his heyday was better known for drinking binges, torrid love affairs, and a cocaine addiction.
That combination of substance abuse and fame and fortune lead to some pretty weird outcomes, including the fact that he accidentally left his Rolls-Royce Phantom V in an underground New York City parking lot racking up bills for 25 years. The story goes that, after finally cleaning up his act and moving over to Britain, he was looking through some old photos one day in 1997. He came across one with him in front of the Phantom in question. The only issue was he had no memory of it.
I, too, have no memory of owning a Rolls-Royce, but that is because I have never owned a Rolls-Royce. In stark contrast, after first calling his two ex-wives and finding no answers, Harris learned from his accountant that he did indeed have a Phantom. In fact, he still had it, and in fact, he owed $92,000 in parking fees on it. Oops.
How to own a Rolls-Royce Phantom V without knowing it
In Harris’ defense, one reason he couldn’t remember buying a Phantom is because he technically never did. Instead, he received it as a gift in 1965 — it’s good to be famous. The Phantom V was closer to a palace than a car; the rear of the cabin, where the owner was meant to be rather than the driver’s seat, featured a fold-out table and even a storage cabinet. Also rocking a 6.2-liter V8, the Rolls-Royce was hand-built by master craftsmen, as the company would never sell enough to make assembly-line production economical. It’s a really nice car, in other words.
Harris, apparently, didn’t take to it, because in 1974 he stuck it in an underground garage in New York and never went back for it. Presumably, such poshness didn’t really mesh with his renegade sensibilities. Also, this is a man who his kids would find passed out, face down, in a pile of cocaine. In New York specifically, one of his favorite bars knew that his “usual” was six double vodkas. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that there’s probably a lot of things Harris forgot about over the years.
Reunion and immediate separation again
Once Harris (re)learned about his Rolls and its parking fees in 1997, he finally had the car brought out of the garage — what must the attendants have thought? — shipped over to him in Britain, and restored. Then, he sold it. Not a deep relationship between that man and that machine, then, although maybe that’s not surprising from a guy who was twice divorced. By that point, he had mellowed out considerably anyway, and a flashy Phantom (which by that point would also be a classic) maybe wasn’t a fit for him.
A few years later, Harris would take on his final role as Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films. He died in 2002 after a tumultuous but certainly not boring life. Apparently, just before his death, medics had to carry him out of the swanky hotel suite where he’d lived for decades. As he passed through the lobby, he shouted to all the incoming guests, “It was the food! Don’t touch the food!” A rebel ’til the end, that one.
