Vale – Richard Attenborough

The man who bade us welcome to Jurassic Park in 1993, Lord Richard Attenborough, has passed away.

Lord Attenborough, the brother of famed BBC naturalist David Attenborough, was an actor, producer and director, starring in front of the camera in films such as Brighton Rock (1947), Private’s Progress (1956), and perhaps most famously, The Great Escape, in 1963, alongside fellow screen lumnaries such as Donald Pleasance, James Garner and Steve McQueen. Modern audiences will undoubtedly remember his role in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, as eccentric billionaire John Hammond, who dreamed of giving dinsoaurs back to a paying public. He appeared in the remake of Miracle on 34th Street, in 1994, and had a small role in the Cate Blanchett biopic Elizabeth. Among his screen awards were two Golden Globe wins for Best Supporting Actor, for The Sand Pebbles and, a year later, for Doctor Doolittle.

Lord Attenborough was also well respected behind the camera, as a director and producer, with his most successful foray into film-making being the monumental Gandhi, for which he won two Oscars in the directing and producing categories. His first directorial stint was for 1969’s Oh What A Lovely War, followed by Young Winston, and A Bridge Too Far, while two films in the 1980’s, A Chorus Line and Cry Freedom, as well as two more bio-pics in the ’90’s, Chaplin and Shadowlands, on CS Lewis, kept him busy.

Lord Attenborough suffered a stroke, in 2008, and was confined to a wheelchair from that time on.

At the time of his death, aged 90, on August 24th, Lord Attenborough leaves a wife and three children.

Who wrote this?

Rodney Twelftree

“Some people say I like films. Those people are wrong. I *love* films.” – Me. I said this.

Rodney has been writing about films for well over two decades, appreciates a good wine, the love of his wife and kids, and the affection of his dog and cats. He has a fondness of cheesy 90’s action and classic Hollywood, hates that physical media is disappearing, and wishes somebody would make a high-budget series of The Neverending Story.

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