Richard Attenborough

It was his life ambition to direct Gandhi .

Philosophies include believing in content as opposed to style and sincerity rather than intelligence.

He reprised his Jurassic Park character, John Hammond, for Universal Studios Jurassic Park: The Ride attraction. He appears in a short film at the beginning of the ride telling you that the NEW Jurassic Park (the ride youre on) is completely safe, and that there will never be another incident like that at Costa Rica in 1993.

2004: 57 years after he starred in Brighton Rock , his son Michael Attenborough directed a musical version of Graham Greene s novel.

1952: Was the first to star in Agatha Christie s "The Mousetrap", now the longest-running play in the world.

Has two brothers, naturalist/presenter David Attenborough , and John Attenborough. Also, during World War Two, his parents adopted two German Jewish girls, who had been brought to Britain as part of the Kindertransport.

He was awarded the CBE in the 1967 Queens Birthday Honours List, made a Knight Bachelor in the 1976 Queens New Year Honours List and a life peer in the 1993 Queens Birthday Honours List.

2002-: Third president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

1971-94: Vice-president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

1990: Freeman of the City of Leicester, England.

1993: Fellow of Kings College, London.

Created an honorary D.Litt of the Universities of Leicester, Kent and Sussex in 1970, 1981 and 1987 respectively.

12/02: Said he would go back on his claim to never appear in front of the camera again for one role only: that of Professor Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films.

Brother-in-law of actor Gerald Sim

Former father-in-law of actress Jane Seymour.

Life President of Chelsea Football Club.

2003: Was made President of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), a role that had been vacant since the death of Princess Diana in 1997.

2003: Was awarded the Patricia Rothermere Award for his lifelong service to theatre at the London Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

He was trained at RADA (The Royal Acadamy of Dramatic Arts), where he later became Chairman.

Father, with Sheila Sim of son, director Michael Attenborough , and daughters, Jane Attenborough and actress Charlotte Attenborough.

Often casts Anthony Hopkins.

Biography in: John Wakeman , editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 78-84. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

Steven Spielberg has named him as an influence.

12/26/04: Members of his family - daughter Jane, son-in-law Michael Holland, grandchildren Sam, Lucy and Alice and Michaels mother Jane - were holidaying in Phuket, Thailand, when the area was hit by the South Asian tsunami on Boxing Day 2004. Lord Attenborough lost his daughter, her mother-in-law and his 14-year-old granddaughter Lucy in the tragedy. His elder granddaughter, 17-year-old Alice, was seriously injured and his son-in-law and grandson survived unscathed.

Has been involved in some form with the University of Sussex since 1970; he was elected Chancellor of the University on March 20, 1998, replacing the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, who had held that post since 1985.

9/05: Attended the funeral of British film producer Lord John Brabourne.

He was a close friend of the English actor Sir John Mills for many years, and gave the eulogy at his funeral in April 2005.

5/11/05: Gave a reading at a national British memorial service for the victims of the South Asian tsunami. He lost three members of his family in the tragedy.

Godfather of Emma Forbes.

Directed 4 different performers in Oscar-nominated performances: Ben Kingsley , Denzel Washington , Robert Downey Jr. and Debra Winger. Kingsley won an Oscar for his performance in Gandhi .

1978: Officially retired from acting. He agreed to make a return to acting in Jurassic Park , saying he was a huge admirer of Steven Spielberg and always felt bad that Gandhi had won the best picture award instead of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial . Spielberg had previously wanted to cast him as Tootles in Hook , however, hed been busy directing Chaplin at the time.

Received an honorary doctorate from Dickinson College, Pennsylvania.

Originally considered for the role of Harry in The Ladykillers by director Alexander Mackendrick. The role eventually went to Peter Sellers.

In 2008 the UK Regional Critics Film Awards were renamed The Richard Attenborough Film Awards, in his honour.

He was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film culture.

Along with Warren Beatty , Clint Eastwood , Mel Gibson , Kevin Costner and Robert Redford one of six actors to win an Academy Award for "Best Director".

Was hospitalised in August 2008 when his heart stopped beating for a time, and again in December 2008 when he went into a coma for several days after suffering a fall.

Is one of 9 directors to win the Golden Globe, Directors Guild, BAFTA, and Oscar for the same movie, winning for Gandhi . The other directors to achieve this are Mike Nichols for The Graduate , Milos Forman for One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest , Oliver Stone for Platoon , Steven Spielberg for Schindlers List , Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain , Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire , Alfonso Cuarn for Gravity , and Alejandro G. Irritu for The Revenant .

The last veteran of World War II to win an Oscar for Best Director.

Father-in-law of Karen Lewis and Graham Sinclair.

Before entrusting post-production on Jurassic Park to his friend George Lucas , Steven Spielberg thought he would have to divide his time between this and directing Schindlers List . Spielberg at one point asked Attenborough, who had just appeared in Jurassic Park , to serve as assistant director on Schindlers List . This would have reunited Attenborough with Ben Kingsley , whom he directed in Gandhi , which defeated E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for Best Picture and Best Director. Attenboroughs services turned out to be unnecessary, but he is not without his own connection to the material. While Attenborough is not himself Jewish, he does have two Jewish sisters: after World War II, his parents adopted two little girls whose parents had died in the Holocaust.

According to his brother David Attenborough , Before his death, Richard was no longer able to walk and gets about in a wheelchair. However, he still had all his other faculties about him, and was still as gregarious as ever.

He was a close friend of Diana, Princess of Wales, and he coached her privately to help her become more confident about speaking in public in the early years of her marriage. She always called him "Dickie".

Attended Princess Diana s funeral, with Steven Spielberg , Tom Hanks , Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

To date, he is the only performer to win two Golden Globes for Best Supporting Actor but not even be nominated for a corresponding Oscar.

He made a cameo appearance as a lunatic wearing glasses in A Bridge Too Far . This was his only acting role in a film that he directed.

He died in Denville Hall care home in Northwood, London, on August 23, 2014, at lunchtime, five days before 91st birthday. He moved into the care home because of his failing health, in March 2013. His wife, Sheila, had been based there since June 2012.

He was considered for the roles of Dr. Hans Fallada, Dr. Bukovsky, Sir Percy Heseltine and Dr. Armstrong in Lifeforce .

Laurence Olivier offered Attenborough the role of one of the murderers in Richard III but he was unavailable.

He directed his brother-in-law Gerald Sim in seven films: Oh! What a Lovely War , Young Winston , A Bridge Too Far , Gandhi , Cry Freedom , Chaplin and Shadowlands .

He died only thirteen days after his Hamlet co-star Robin Williams.

He appeared in five films with John Mills : In Which We Serve , Morning Departure , The Baby and the Battleship , Dunkirk and Hamlet . He also directed him in three films: Oh! What a Lovely War , Young Winston and Gandhi .

In an AFI poll, he described Charles Chaplin s film The Gold Rush (1925) as his favourite film.

He directed Anthony Hopkins in five films: Young Winston , A Bridge Too Far , Magic , Chaplin and Shadowlands .

He directed Edward Fox and Colin Farrell in three films: Oh! What a Lovely War , A Bridge Too Far and Gandhi .

He appeared in three films with his wife Sheila Sim : Dancing with Crime , The Guinea Pig and The Magic Box .

Of the twelve films that he directed, Magic , A Chorus Line and Closing the Ring were the only ones which were not based on real events.

Carl Foreman was so impressed with his directorial debut Oh! What a Lovely War that he offered him the opportunity to both direct Young Winston and play Lord Randolph Churchill in the film. He declined the latter offer.

He directed both A Bridge Too Far and Magic in exchange for obtaining financing from Joseph E. Levine for his dream project Gandhi .

He directed his former daughter-in-law Jane Seymour in two films: Oh! What a Lovely War and Young Winston .

Steven Spielberg offered Attenborough the role of Tootles in Hook but he had to decline as he was directing Chaplin . Arthur Malet was cast instead. Spielberg later cast Attenborough as John Hammond in Jurassic Park , which was his first acting role since The Human Factor .

He appeared in six films with his brother-in-law Gerald Sim : The Angry Silence , Whistle Down the Wind , Only Two Can Play , Seance on a Wet Afternoon , The Last Grenade and A Bridge Too Far , which Attenborough also directed.

He was the grandfather of Tom Attenborough.

After Joseph Mazzello played his grandson in Jurassic Park , Attenborough cast him as Douglas Gresham in Shadowlands , his next film as a director.

He was 25 when he played the 14-year-old Jack Read in The Guinea Pig .

Of the twelve films that he directed, Magic and A Chorus Line were the only ones set in the present.

For his work in both The Sand Pebbles and Doctor Dolittle , hes one of only 7 actors to win the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a motion picture without receiving an Oscar nomination for the same performance. The other 6 are, in chronological order: Millard Mitchell in My Six Convicts (1952) , Earl Holliman in The Rainmaker , Stephen Boyd in Ben-Hur , Oskar Werner in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold , Richard Benjamin in The Sunshine Boys (1975/I) and and Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Nocturnal Animals .

He appeared with Joseph Mazzello in Jurassic Park and later directed him in Shadowlands .

He appeared with Marianne Stone in Brighton Rock and later directed her in Oh! What a Lovely War .

He appeared with Michael Denison in The Magic Box and later directed him in Shadowlands .

He appeared with John Gielgud in The Human Factor , Hamlet and Elizabeth and directed him in Oh! What a Lovely War and Gandhi .

He appeared with Michael Hordern in School for Secrets , The Magic Box and The Baby and the Battleship and later directed him in Gandhi .

He appeared with Candice Bergen in The Sand Pebbles and later directed her in Gandhi .

He appeared with Laurence Olivier in The Magic Box and David Copperfield and directed him in Oh! What a Lovely War and A Bridge Too Far .

He appeared with Pat Heywood , Robert Hardy and Basil Dignam in 10 Rillington Place and later directed them in Young Winston .

He appeared with Robert Flemyng in The Guinea Pig and The Magic Box and later directed him in Oh! What a Lovely War , Young Winston and Shadowlands .

He appeared with Hardy Krger in The Flight of the Phoenix and later directed him in A Bridge Too Far .

He appeared with Michael Byrne in Conduct Unbecoming and later directed him in A Bridge Too Far .

He appeared with Saeed Jaffrey , Tom Alter and Barry John in Shatranj Ke Khilari and later directed them in Gandhi .

Had been cast as Archbishop Langton in the period action-drama Ironclad , but had to relinquish the role after suffering a debilitating fall down the stairs of his home, complications of which led to his death. He was replaced by Charles Dance.

He and his grandson Will Attenborough have both been in films titled Dunkirk, made nearly sixty years apart, which detailed the evacuation of British soldiers from the battle in World War II: Richard in Dunkirk and Will in Dunkirk.

In other words, if you - the cost of promoting movies, the advertising,and promotion of a movie, the budget is almost as large as the cost of,the movie.

I was on my own union council for twenty-odd years.

Well, you cannot think of cinema now, and you cannot think of cinema in,the UK and not place Chaplin in the most extraordinary elevated,context, if there can be such a thing, in that he was a genius, he was,unique.

And I believe we need heroes, I believe we need certain people who we,can measure our own shortcomings by.

Pier Angeli was in the movie called Sea of Sand that Guy Green directed,where this idea came up.

I came from a family who believed in, in quotes, the Rights of Man, who,believed that in order to justify the sort of luxurious life that the,majority of us have, related to the whole world, that you had to do,something.

And there are certain things, and they are evident, obviously, without,being boring about it, but I mean obviously, the two evident and easy,ones being Gandhi (1982) and Cry Freedom (1987) , there,are things which I do care about very much and which I would like to,stand up and be counted.

What I am sad about is that there is now, in America, no equivalent to,the art circuit.

I am passionately opposed to capital punishment, and I have been all my,life.

I believe in trade unionism, and I believe in democracy, in democratic,trade unionism.

I do care about style. I do care, but I only care about style that,serves the subject.

I prefer fact to fiction.

There is a LIGHT in this world. A healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter. We sometime lose sight of this force when there is suffering, and too much pain. Then suddenly, the spirit will emerge through the lives of ordinary people who hear a call and answer in extraordinary ways.

If someone does something in an entertainment/pop ambience, that person becomes someone who has an impact on the conduct and attitude of a huge number of people who peripherally come in contact with them.

We used to indulge hopelessly as a family at Christmas. When the children were little, I dressed up as Father Christmas. They knew it was a gag, but they loved it. I remember stealing into their bedrooms at 1 A. M. and filling the stockings up at the end of the bed.

What I am sad about is that there is now, in America, no equivalent to the art circuit. .