Profile
Richard Attenborough
Actor + Film Director
Male
Born
Aug 29, 1923
Age
89
Hometown
Cambridge
Nationality
United Kingdom
Alma Mater
Royal Academy of ...
Other Names
Attenborough, Ric...
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, CBE (born 29 August 1923) is an English actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As a film director and producer, he won two Academy Awards for Gandhi in 1982. He has also won four BAFTA Awards and three… Read More
Photos
View newly released photos of Richard Attenborough.
Romance
Check out the latest love interests for Richard Attenborough.
Family
Discover the family history of Richard Attenborough.
Richard Attenborough
Age 89
siblings
children
-
Charlotte AttenboroughDaughter, Age 53
News + Updates
Browse recent news and stories about Richard Attenborough.
-
Movie Reviews: Iron Man Robert Downey Jr. Is BackBurnsville Patch - May 02, 2013
-
Carole Mallory: Jurassic Park 3 D Review: Take Me There!Huffington Post - Apr 04, 2013
-
‘gandhi’ Director Richard Attenborough In Care HomeThe Times of India - Mar 26, 2013
-
Mike Ryan: Welcome To 'Jurassic Park 3 D'Huffington Post - Mar 13, 2013
Timeline
Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Richard Attenborough.
CHILDHOOD
1923
Birth
Born on August 29, 1923.
TEENAGE
1939
15 Years Old
In September 1939, the Attenboroughs took in two German-Jewish refugee girls, Helga and Irene Bejach (aged 9 & 11), who lived with them in College House and were adopted by the family after the war when it was discovered that their parents had been killed.
… Read More
1942
18 Years Old
Attenborough's acting career started on stage and he appeared in shows at Leicester's Little Theatre, Dover Street, prior to him going to RADA, where he is still Patron. Attenborough's film career began in 1942 in an uncredited role as a deserting sailor in the Noël Coward/David Lean production In Which We Serve (his name and character were accidentally omitted from the original release-print credits), a role which would help to type-cast him for many years as spivs or cowards in films like London Belongs to Me (1948), Morning Departure (1950) and his breakthrough role as a psychopathic young gangster in the film of Graham Greene's novel Brighton Rock (1947), a part that he had previously played to great acclaim at the Garrick Theatre in 1942. In 1949 exhibitors voted him the 6th most popular British actor at the box office.
TWENTIES
1952
28 Years Old
Early in his stage career, Attenborough starred in the West End production of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, which went on to become the world's longest-running stage production. Both he and his wife were among the original cast members of the production, which opened in 1952 at the Ambassadors Theatre and as of 2012 is still running at the St Martins Theatre.
… Read More
THIRTIES
1963
39 Years Old
In 1963 he appeared in the ensemble cast of The Great Escape as RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett ("Big X"), the head of the escape committee and based on the real life exploits of Roger Bushell.
… Read More
FORTIES
1965
41 Years Old
In 1965 he played Lew Moran opposite James Stewart in The Flight of the Phoenix and in 1967 and 1968, he won back-to-back Golden Globe Awards in the category of Best Supporting Actor, the first time for The Sand Pebbles, again co-starring Steve McQueen and the second time for Doctor Dolittle starring Rex Harrison.
FIFTIES
1977
53 Years Old
His portrayal of the serial killer John Christie in 10 Rillington Place (1971) garnered excellent reviews and in 1977 he played the ruthless General Outram, again to great acclaim, in Indian director Satyajit Ray's period piece The Chess Players.
… Read More
1982
58 Years Old
…
He won the 1982 Academy Award for Best Director and as the film's producer, the Academy Award for Best Picture for his historical epic, Gandhi and another Golden Globe, this time as Best Director, for the same film in 1983, a project he had been attempting to get made for 18 years.
… Read More
LATE ADULTHOOD
1997
73 Years Old
Attenborough's father was the principal of University College, Leicester, now the city's university. This has resulted in a long association with the university, with Richard becoming a patron. The university's Embrace Arts at the RA centre http://www.embracearts.co.uk/, which opened in 1997, is named in his honour.
… Read More
1998
74 Years Old
…
He was elected to the post of Chancellor of the University of Sussex on 20 March 1998, replacing The Duke of Richmond and Gordon.
… Read More
On 26 December 2004, the couple's elder daughter, 49-year-old Jane Holland, as well as her mother-in-law, also named Jane and Attenborough's 15-year-old granddaughter Lucy, were killed when a tsunami caused by the Indian Ocean earthquake struck Khao Lak, Thailand where they were holidaying.
… Read More
2006
82 Years Old
His most recent films as director and producer include Chaplin (1992) starring Robert Downey, Jr. as Charlie Chaplin and Shadowlands (1993), based on the relationship between C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham, (the star of the latter was Anthony Hopkins, who had appeared in four previous films for Attenborough: Young Winston, A Bridge Too Far, Magic and Chaplin) and between 2006-07 Attenborough spent time in Belfast, Northern Ireland, working on his last film as director and producer, Closing the Ring, a love story set in Belfast during the Second World War and starring Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer and Pete Postlethwaite.
2007
83 Years Old
More than 100 items went on display at the New Walk Museum and Art Gallery in Leicester in 2007; the exhibition is dedicated to his family members lost in the tsunami.
In 2008 he published, in association with his long standing associate Diana Hawkins, an informal autobiography Entirely Up to You, Darling, in which he states that he is a life-long Labour Party supporter.
2012
88 Years Old
In his absence due to illness, Lord David Puttnam and Pinewood Chairman Lord Michael Grade officially unveiled the stage on 23 April 2012.
… Read More
Original Authors of this text are noted on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Attenborough.
Text is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Text is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.