Harris attracted younger fans for his role in Harry Potter

Crowe took a break from filming in New York to travel to Kilkee, West Clare, to pay tribute to the legendary actor.

"I met Richard at a time in his life when he was probably reflective of what he had done over the time he had spent on the planet," said Crowe.

"He very kindly passed a lot of wisdom on to me."

The pair became friends while filming Gladiator in 1999, and Crowe said he was "a great guy and a very good friend".

Limerick-born Harris spent his childhood summers in Kilkee, and the life-size bronze statue depicts him playing racquet-ball.

Russell Crowe met Richard Harris on the set of Gladiator

Harris won a racquet-ball competition four times in a row in the west Clare resort where he spent his summer holidays as a young man.

His three sons, Damian, Jared and Jamie, also attended the ceremony.

Harris, who starred in The Field and in more recent years as the wily head of Hogwarts School in Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone, died in October 2002 at the age of 72.

He had just finished work on the second Harry Potter movie, Chamber of Secrets, when he became ill.