Noel Harrison (born 29 January 1934, London)[1] is an English Olympic athlete, actor and singer. He is the son of British actor Sir Rex Harrison. As a teenager he joined the Ipswich repertory theatre group and taught himself guitar, but his main interest was sport and most of his spare time was spent skiing in Switzerland. At an early age he was a member of the British ski team, becoming its first giant-slalom champion in 1953 and representing Britain at the Winter Olympics in Oslo in 1952 and Italy in 1956, competing in both down-hill and slalom events. ...show more

Noel Harrison (born 29 January 1934, London)[1] is an English Olympic athlete, actor and singer. He is the son of British actor Sir Rex Harrison. As a teenager he joined the Ipswich repertory theatre group and taught himself guitar, but his main interest was sport and most of his spare time was spent skiing in Switzerland. At an early age he was a member of the British ski team, becoming its first giant-slalom champion in 1953 and representing Britain at the Winter Olympics in Oslo in 1952 and Italy in 1956, competing in both down-hill and slalom events.

Noel also did his National Service and, after leaving the army in the fifties, toyed with the idea of becoming a journalist, but instead he concentrated on his guitar. When he was 20, he started playing professionally, around the tables in a Greek restaurant in London, for meals and tips. He also made a living playing in bars and nightclubs all over Europe, including appearances at the famous Blue Angel Club, where one show was recorded for a live album. But his early break came in 1958 when he took a regular part in the BBC TV programme Tonight, as part of a team who sang the day's news in a calypso style.

He left England for America in 1965, working as a nightclub entertainer at such venues as San Francisco's Hungry I and at the Persian Room in New York Thanks to his managers Bob Chartoff and lrwin Winkler, who went on to produce the Rocky films, he had a record hit the charts, A Young Girl, written by Charles Aznavour. The song was included on his first studio album, Noel Harrison, which was released in 1966. He also landed the co-lead with Stefanie Powers in the television show The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. The TV series, plus the top 40 record, landed Noel a contract with Reprise, who he released three albums for, Collage, Santa Monica Pier and The Great Electric Experiment is Over. ...show less