Matinee Classics - Richard Attenborough Biography & Filmography

Richard Attenborough ACTOR

PHOTOS

RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Richard Attenborough was born on August 29th, 1923 in Cambridge, England, born to Mary Attenborough and Frederick Levi Attenborough. He received his early years education at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys and also began working as a stage actor.

During World War II he took a brief break from acting to serve in the Royal Air Force. After he completed his military service he began finding work in films. Some of his earlier credits include, "In Which We Serve" (1942) co-starring Noel Coward, Bernard Miles, John Mills, Celia Johnson and Juliet Mills, "It Started at Midnight" (1943), "Journey Together" (1945), "London Belongs to Me" (1948) also starring Alastair Sim, Fay Compton, Stephen Murray, Wylie Watson and Susan Shaw and "Morning Departure" (1950) starring with John Mills, Nigel Patrick, Peter Hammond, George Cole and Bernard Lee.

He was now becoming known as one of the top 10 most popular British actors and he remained working mostly in British films. Other film roles he added to his resume were in, "Private's Progress" (1956) co-starring Ian Carmichael, Terry Thomas, Christopher Lee and Dennis Price, and the sequel "I'm All Right Jack" (1959) with basically the same cast yet including Peter Sellers, "Guns at Batasi" (1964) and "The Great Escape" (1963) with an all star cast including James Garner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, David McCallum, Charles Bronson and Donald Pleasence to name a few. He won a BAFTA Award for Best Actor for his role as Sergeant Major in the film, "Guns at Batasi" (1964) starring with Jack Hawkins, Flora Robson, John Leyton and Mia Farrow and "The Flight of the Phoenix" (1965) co-starring James Stewart, Dan Duryea, George Kennedy, Peter Finch, Ronald Fraser, Hardy Kruger, Ian Bannen, Christian Marquand and Ernest Borgnine.

Already quite popular in the industry he increased his fan base when he won two Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his roles in the films, "The Sand Pebbles" (1967) starring Steve McQueen, Candice Bergen, Simon Oakland, Gavin MacLeod, Richard Loo, Barney Phillips, Ford Rainey and Richard Crenna and "Doctor Dolittle" (1968) starring Rex Harrison, Samantha Eggar and Anthony Newley.

He took a break from acting after appearing in, "The Human Factor" (1979) starring with John Gielgud, Derek Jacobi and Nicol Williamson, to focus on working on the other side of the industry as a director and producer. He formed the production company called, "Beaver Films and added such producer credits to his resume for the films, "The League of Gentlemen" (1959), "The Angry Silence" (1960) and "Whistle Down the Wind" (1961). He also directed such films as, "Oh! What a Lovely War" (1969), "Young Winston" (1972), "A Bridge Too Far" (1977) starring an ensemble cast including Dirk Bogarde, James Caan, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Edward Fox, Elliott Gould, Anthony Hopkins, Gene Hackman, Hardy Kruger, Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford and Maximilian Schell and "Ghandi" (1982) starring Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard, John Mills, Martin Sheen and Rohini Hattangadi, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director.

More recently he has returned to acting and has also continued working as a producer and director. He has added to his directing resume the films, "A Chorus Line" (1985), "Cry Freedom" (1987), "Chaplin" (1992) and "Shadowlands" (1993). More recent acting credits included, "Jurassic Park" (1993), "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (1997), "Miracle on 34th Street" (1994), "Elizabeth" (1998), "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" (1999) and he has done voice over work on the film, "Within the Way Without" (2004).

Along with his work as an actor, director and producer he also serves as President of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and he has served as the Chairman on such boards as, The Board of Governors of the British Film Institute, Chairman of Goldcrest Films and the President of the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation.

In 1945 he married actress Sheila Sim and together they reside in England. He has three children total, one of whom he lost in a Tsunami in Thailand. He and his wife founded the Richard and Sheila Attenborough Visual Arts Centre as well as the Jane Holland Creative Centre for Learning which is dedicated to the memory of his daughter who he lost in 2004.

He is an avid collector of Picasso Ceramics and also published an autobiography titled, "Entirely Up to You, Darling" in 2008.

In 2008 Richard Attenborough suffered a fall and was in a coma for a couple days but was able to recover. Sadly, he is now in a wheelchair as of 2011 and he has retired from the industry completely. It is rumored that he will star in the next Jurassic film titled, "Jurassic Park IV", however his health might prevent him from this.

Filmography

???? Jurassic Park IV

2006 Welcome to World War One

2004 Within the Way Without

2002 Puckoon

2001 Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story

2000 The Railway Children

1999 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

1999 Tom and Vicky

1998 Elizabeth

1998 Trespasser

1997 The Lost World: Jurassic Park - Chaos Island