Born in St. Anthony, Idaho, Harris' family moved to California, where he attended Burbank High School, then received an athletic scholarship to UCLA where he studied economics. When he injured his knee playing football he was advised to take up weightlifting to strengthen the injury that developed his interest in bodybuilding. Harris entered films as a stand-in, stuntman, and later an actor. His first roles were in André de Toth's Monkey on My Back and Li'l Abner. With his athletic physique, Harris travelled to Rome to watch the 1960 Summer Olympics and perform stunts in Stanley Kubrick'sSpartacus. He stayed in Europe for the boom in European sword and sandal, Eurospy, and spaghetti western genres. Harris discovered, when working in Germany, that stunt coordinators were nonexistent in that country and he often did extra duties as a stuntman, stunt coordinator, and second unit director as well as an actor. Harris made his debut as a leading man in 1961 in the title role of Gianfranco Parolini's Goliath Against the Giants and Samson. He would have a long, continuing relationship in several films written and directed by Parolini. Harris also began to be teamed with Tony Kendall, starting with the Western Pirates of the Mississippi. He later married his co-star in Black Eagle of Santa Fe, the sequel to that film. He married Czech actress Olga Schoberová on November 16, 1967 and divorced in 1969. They had a daughter named Babrinka. Harris teamed again with Kendall and Parolini in the Kommissar X series, and The Three Fantastic Supermen/I Fantastici Tre Supermen series. He also served as executive producer on several of his films including King of Kong Island and Jack Cardiff's The Mutations. He later made seven appearances on the Americansoap operaFalcon Crest as "Deputy Duffy". His most recent film was the Andrea Zaccariello's comedy Boom, released in 1999, Harris invented and marketed exercise products called "AB-OrigOnals." He owned a company called Modern Body Design. In 2015 he was awarded the University of Arizona College of Humanities’ Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award in the Humanities. He died on November 7, 2017, at the age of 84.
