Father of Robert Harrison
Father of Richard Harrison II,
Father of Sebastian Harrison
Had three sons with first wife, Loretta. One son, Sebastian Harrison, appeared in several films but quit acting and got into the computer business; another lives in San Luis Obispo; a third son is deceased. He also has a daughter by his second marriage.
Harrison was another in a long line of American hunks with super physiques who 'muscled' in on Steve Reeves' territory by traveling to Italy in the early 60s when he couldn't kickstart an American film career. Appearing in scores of sword-and-sandal spectaclaes and 'spaghetti' westerns, Harrison, unlike the others, was able to keep the momentum going later on in Hong Kong-produced kung fu movies.
Harrison was the one who suggested Clint Eastwood to Sergio Leone when the famed director was looking for a lead in "A Fistful of Dollars" in 1964.
Husband of Maria Francesca
In his salad days he joined the Athletic Model Guild and became a popular poser for such physique magazines as "Body Beautiful," "Tomorrow's Man," "Physique Pictorial" and "Man Alive."
In the mid-eighties, he worked in Hong Kong with director Godfrey Ho and producer Joseph Lai, making several "ninja" b-actioners. However, without his knowledge, the film-makers edited Harrison's scenes into several more movies, which were released with him as the star. Harrison found himself the unwitting and unwilling star of more than a dozen of z-grade actioners, which strongly tarnished his reputation.