Richard Attenborough

Attenborough was born on 29 August 1923 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, the eldest son of three from mother Mary Attenborough (née Clegg)—a founding member of the Marriage Guidance Council—and father Frederick Levi Attenborough, a scholar and academic administrator who was a fellow at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and wrote a standard text on Anglo-Saxon law. Attenborough was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in Leicester and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. In September 1939, while father Frederick Attenborough was Principal of University College, Leicester (1932–1951), the Attenboroughs took in two German Jewish refugee girls, Helga and Irene Bejach (aged 9 and 11, respectively), with the girls living with them in College House and being adopted by the family after the war, when it was discovered that their parents had been killed. The sisters moved to the US in the 1950s and lived with an uncle; Irene died in 1992, and Helga in 2005. During the Second World War, Attenborough served in the Royal Air Force. ==Acting career==

Attenborough's acting career started on the theatre stage, where he appeared in shows at Leicester's Little Theatre, Dover Street, prior to his attending RADA. His debut was in 1937 when he played Lucius in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Attenborough's first major, credited role was portraying Tommy Draper in Brian Desmond Hurst's The Hundred Pound Window (1944), a role in which the character helps to rescue his accountant father who has taken a wrong turn in life. Attenborough's film career had begun by 1942, in an uncredited role as a sailor deserting his post under fire in the Noël Coward/David Lean production In Which We Serve (his name and character were omitted from the original release-print credits), a role that helped typecast him for many years as a spiv in films like London Belongs to Me (1948), Morning Departure (1950) and his breakthrough role as Pinkie Brown in John Boulting's film adaptation of Graham Greene's novel Brighton Rock (1947), a role that he had previously played to great acclaim at the Garrick Theatre in 1943. 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, moving to St Martin's Theatre in 1974; the production ran continuously for nearly seven decades, until it was shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The Attenboroughs took a 10 per cent profit-participation in the production, which was paid for out of their combined weekly salary; Attenborough later wrote in his autobiography, "It proved to be the wisest business decision I've ever made... but foolishly I sold some of my share to open a short-lived Mayfair restaurant called 'The Little Elephant' and later still, disposed of the remainder in order to keep Gandhi afloat." At the beginning of the 1950s Attenborough featured on radio on the BBC Light Programme introducing records. Attenborough worked prolifically in British films for the next 30 years, including in the 1950s, appearing in several successful comedies for John and Roy Boulting, such as ''Private's Progress (1956) and I'm All Right Jack (1959). In 1963, he appeared alongside Steve McQueen and James Garner in The Great Escape as RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett ("Big X"), the head of the escape committee, based on the real-life exploits of Roger Bushell. His portrayal of the serial killer John Christie in 10 Rillington Place'' (1971) garnered excellent reviews. In 1977, he played the ruthless General Outram, again to great acclaim, in the Indian director Satyajit Ray's period piece The Chess Players. He played the 'Old Gentleman' in the rear carriage of the train in the TV movie The Railway Children made in 2000. He made his only appearance in a film adaptation of Shakespeare when he played the English ambassador who announces that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead at the end of Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996). ==Producer and director==

at the premiere of A Bridge Too Far, June 1977 In the late 1950s, Attenborough formed a production company, Beaver Films, with Bryan Forbes and began to build a profile as a producer on projects including The League of Gentlemen (1959), The Angry Silence (1960) and Whistle Down the Wind (1961), appearing in the cast of the first two films. His performance in The Angry Silence earned him his first nomination for a BAFTA Award, while Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) won him his first BAFTA. His feature film directorial debut was the all-star screen version of the hit musical Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), after which his acting appearances became sporadic as he concentrated more on directing and producing. and two Golden Globes, this time for Best Director and Best Foreign Film, in 1983. His later 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 (C. S. Lewis was portrayed by Anthony Hopkins, who had appeared in four previous films for Attenborough: Young Winston, A Bridge Too Far, Magic and Chaplin). Between 2006 and 2007, he spent time in Belfast, 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. ==Later projects==

, February 2006 After 33 years of dedicated service as President of the Muscular Dystrophy campaign, Attenborough became the charity's Honorary Life President in 2004. In 2012, the charity, which leads the fight against muscle-wasting conditions in the UK, established the Richard Attenborough Fellowship Fund to honour his lifelong commitment to the charity, and to ensure the future of clinical research and training at leading UK neuromuscular centres. Attenborough was also the patron of the United World Colleges movement, whereby he contributed to the colleges that are part of the organisation. He was a frequent visitor to the Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa (UWCSA). He was a longtime advocate of education that does not judge upon colour, race, creed or religion. Attenborough served as Chair of the British Film Institute between 1981 and 1992. He founded The Richard Attenborough Arts Centre on the Leicester University campus in 1997, specifically designed to provide access for the disabled, in particular as practitioners. He was elected to the post of Chancellor of the University of Sussex on 20 March 1998, replacing The Duke of Richmond and Gordon. He stood down as Chancellor of the university following graduation in July 2008. A lifelong supporter of Chelsea Football Club, Attenborough served as a director of the club from 1969 to 1982 and between 1993 and 2008 held the honorary position of Life Vice President. He was also head of the consortium Dragon International Film Studios, which was constructing a film and television studio complex in Llanilid, Wales, nicknamed "Valleywood". In March 2008, the project was placed into administration with debts of £15 million and was considered for sale of the assets in 2011. A mooted long-term lease to Fox 21 fell through in 2015, though the facilities continue to be used for filmmaking. He had a lifelong ambition to make a film about his hero the political theorist and revolutionary Thomas Paine, whom he called "one of the finest men that ever lived". He said in an interview in 2006 that "I could understand him. He wrote in simple English. I found all his aspirations – the rights of women, the health service, universal education... Everything you can think of that we want is in Rights of Man or The Age of Reason or Common Sense." He could not secure the funding to do so. The website "A Gift for Dickie" was launched by two filmmakers from Luton in June 2008 with the aim of raising £40m in 400 days to help him make the film, but the target was not met and the money that had been raised was refunded. ==Personal life==

Attenborough's father was the principal of University College, Leicester, now the city's university. This resulted in a long association with the university, with Attenborough becoming a patron. The university's Embrace Arts at the RA centre, which opened in 1997 is named in his honour. He had two younger brothers: naturalist and broadcaster David and motor trade executive John. From 1949 until October 2012, they lived in Old Friars on Richmond Green in London which they had bought in their early acting days. On 26 December 2004, the couple's elder daughter, Jane Holland (born 30 September 1955), along with her mother-in-law, Audrey Holland, 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 on holiday. A service was held on 8 March 2005 and Attenborough read a lesson at the national memorial service on 11 May 2005. His grandson, who survived the tsunami uninjured, and granddaughter, who suffered severe leg injuries, also read in the service. He publicly endorsed the Labour Party in the 2005 general election, despite his opposition to the Iraq War. Attenborough collected Picasso ceramics from the 1950s. More than 100 items went on display at the New Walk Museum and Art Gallery in Leicester in 2007, in an exhibition dedicated to family members lost in the tsunami. In 2008, he published an informal autobiography entitled Entirely Up to You, Darling in association with his colleague Diana Hawkins. Health and death , their daughter Jane Holland and their granddaughter, Lucy, at St Mary Magdalene, Richmond In August 2008, Attenborough entered hospital with heart problems and was fitted with a pacemaker. In December 2008, he suffered a fall at his home after a stroke In January 2011, he sold his Rhubodach estate on the Scottish Isle of Bute for £1.48 million. In May 2011, David Attenborough said his brother had required a wheelchair since his stroke in 2008, In June 2012, shortly before her 90th birthday, Sheila Sim entered the professional actors' retirement home Denville Hall, in Northwood, London, for which she and Attenborough had helped raise funds. In October 2012, it was announced that Attenborough was putting the family home, Old Friars, with its attached offices, Beaver Lodge, which came complete with a sound-proofed cinema in the garden, on the market for £11.5 million. His brother David stated: "He and his wife both loved the house, but they now need full-time care. It simply isn't practical to keep the house on any more." In December 2012, in light of his deteriorating health, Attenborough moved into the same nursing home in London to be with his wife, as confirmed by their son Michael. Attenborough died at Denville Hall, on 24 August 2014, five days short of his 91st birthday. He requested that his ashes be interred in a vault at St Mary Magdalene church in Richmond beside those of his daughter Jane and his granddaughter Lucy, who had died in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. He was survived by Sheila, his wife of 69 years, their oldest and youngest children, six grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and his younger brother David. Sheila died on 19 January 2016. ==Honours==

In the 1967 Birthday Honours, Attenborough was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). He was made a Knight Bachelor in the 1976 New Year Honours, having the honour conferred on 10 February 1976. Attenborough was the subject of the BBC's This Is Your Life in December 1962 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the Savoy Hotel, during a dinner held to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Agatha Christie play The Mousetrap, in which he had been an original cast member. In 1983, Attenborough was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolence Peace Prize by the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. He was also awarded France's most distinguished awards, the Legion of Honour and the Order of Arts and Letters and the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo by the South African government for his "contribution to the struggle against apartheid in South Africa." In 1992, the Hamburg-based Alfred Toepfer Foundation awarded Attenborough its annual Shakespeare Prize in recognition of his life's work. The following year he was appointed a Fellow of King's College London. On 30 July 1993, he was created a life peer as Baron Attenborough, of Richmond upon Thames in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Although the appointment by John Major was 'non-political' (it was granted for services to the cinema) and he could have been a crossbencher, Attenborough chose to take the Labour whip and so sat on the Labour benches. In 1992, he had been offered a peerage by Neil Kinnock, then leader of the Labour Party, but declined it as he felt unable to commit himself to the time necessary "to do what was required of him in the Upper Chamber, as he always put film-making first". On 13 July 2006, Attenborough, along with his brother David, were awarded the titles of Distinguished Honorary Fellows of the University of Leicester "in recognition of a record of continuing distinguished service to the university". On 20 November 2008, Attenborough was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Drama from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) in Glasgow. Attenborough was an Honorary Fellow of Bangor University for his contributions to film making. Pinewood Studios paid tribute to his body of work by naming a purpose-built sound stage after him. In his absence because of illness, Lord Puttnam and Pinewood chairman Lord Grade officially unveiled the stage on 23 April 2012. The Arts for India charity committee honoured Attenborough posthumously on 19 October 2016 at an event hosted at the home of BAFTA. ==Filmography==

Acting roles Video games ==Bibliography==

Academy Awards BAFTA Awards Golden Globe Awards Directed Academy Award performancesUnder Attenborough's direction, these actors have received Academy Award nominations and wins for their performances in their respective roles. ==Portrayals==

In early 1973, he was portrayed as "Dickie Attenborough" in the British Showbiz Awards sketch late in the third series of ''Monty Python's Flying Circus. Attenborough is portrayed by Eric Idle as effusive and simpering. A portrayal similar to that seen in Monty Python can be seen in the early series of the satirical puppet show Spitting Image'', when Attenborough's caricature would be in floods of tears when he was shown a hanky and regularly appeared to thank others for an imaginary award. In 1985 he was played by Chris Barrie in The Lenny Henry Show, in the final part of a serial pastiching A Passage to India and The Jewel in the Crown. In response to the villain claiming "Gandhi won't win!", he appears in a suit covered in Academy Awards and declares "We've already won!" In 2012 Attenborough was portrayed by Simon Callow in the BBC Four biopic The Best Possible Taste, about Kenny Everett. In 2022 Harris Dickinson plays Attenborough in the comedy murder mystery See How They Run. ==See also==