Cinemaazi remembers Richard Attenborough on his death anniversary
24 Aug 2014
Lord Richard Attenborough, the director of Gandhi (1982) was one of Britain's leading actors, before becoming a highly successful director. Cinemaazi remembers him on his death anniversary (24 August 2014).
His first screen role was as a callow stoker who deserts his post in Noël Coward's In Which We Serve (1942), told in flashback by survivors while they cling to a life raft after their ship has been sunk off Crete in May 1941. In a career that spanned six decades, he appeared in films including Brighton Rock, The Great Escape and Jurassic Park.
In 1960, Attenborough formed Beaver Films with the actor and director Bryan Forbes, and an independent distribution company, Allied Film Makers, with Forbes, Guy Green, Michael Relph, Basil Dearden and Jack Hawkins.
His first film as producer was The Angry Silence. Then came the delightfully piquant heist comedy The League of Gentlemen (1960) with a gallery of British ex-army. Also for his own production company was Forbes's Seance On a Wet Afternoon (1964).
The 1960s saw him break into Hollywood, with The Great Escape (1963), followed by The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) and The Sand Pebbles (1966), Young Winston (1972) and A Bridge Too Far (1977). Goldcrest having put up two-thirds of the £20m budget, Attenborough ventured to make Gandhi (1982), which had a fine performance by Ben Kingsley in the title role. The film is dedicated to Lord Mountbatten, Pandit Nehru and Motilal Kothari, who suggested the subject to Attenborough in the first place in 1962.
His first screen role was as a callow stoker who deserts his post in Noël Coward's In Which We Serve (1942), told in flashback by survivors while they cling to a life raft after their ship has been sunk off Crete in May 1941. In a career that spanned six decades, he appeared in films including Brighton Rock, The Great Escape and Jurassic Park.
In 1960, Attenborough formed Beaver Films with the actor and director Bryan Forbes, and an independent distribution company, Allied Film Makers, with Forbes, Guy Green, Michael Relph, Basil Dearden and Jack Hawkins.
His first film as producer was The Angry Silence. Then came the delightfully piquant heist comedy The League of Gentlemen (1960) with a gallery of British ex-army. Also for his own production company was Forbes's Seance On a Wet Afternoon (1964).
The 1960s saw him break into Hollywood, with The Great Escape (1963), followed by The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) and The Sand Pebbles (1966), Young Winston (1972) and A Bridge Too Far (1977). Goldcrest having put up two-thirds of the £20m budget, Attenborough ventured to make Gandhi (1982), which had a fine performance by Ben Kingsley in the title role. The film is dedicated to Lord Mountbatten, Pandit Nehru and Motilal Kothari, who suggested the subject to Attenborough in the first place in 1962.
