Richard Attenborough

Richard Samuel Attenborough was born in Cambridge, England, United Kingdom, on August 29, 1923. The eldest of three brothers – David Attenborough is a famous popularizer of nature – his parents took pains to give him a good education, not in vain he he was a college professor and she was a marriage counselor. With an early interest in acting, he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. So he would go on to act on the stages of the Little Theater on Dover Street in Leicester.

Curiously, in life, his first steps as an adult were marked by the Second World War. During the conflict he had to serve in the RAF, the British air force. And in cinema he had to debut with a war film by the duo Noel Coward – David Lean ,Blood, sweat and tears (1942), which precisely describes the efforts to survive of some English sailors, whose battleship has been hit by German aircraft. His character responded to the canons of the doubtful coward, a role that he would repeat in more than one film, such as his unforgettable Pinkie fromBrighton Rock (1948), which adapted a novel by Graham Greene , or the murderous psychopath ofThe Rillington Place Strangler (1971). In 1952 she would shine in the theater with “The Mousetrap”, according to the work of Agatha Christie , a work that she continued to perform without interruption on the London scene until 2010, a record. In the original cast was the woman of his life, Sheila Sim , whom he had married in 1945, and with whom he had three children: Michael is a theater director, and Charlotte an actress.

His physique is not the usual heartthrob, which has not prevented him from having leading roles with types of character, although his career abounds, especially secondary characters, in the company of names such as Laurence Olivier , Robert Donat , David Niven or Peter Ustinov . As an actor, Attenborough has worked on film with top British filmmakers: Michael Powell and Emerich Pressburger (A vida o muerte , 1946), John Boulting (in addition to the aforementioned Brighton Rock , titles such asThe Magic Box , from 1947), Basil Dearden (Target: Bank of England , 1959), Charles Crichton (The Third Secret , 1964). His versatility allowed her to be not only in various dramas and intrigues, but in comedies such as The Court of Comedy ( James Hill , 1962), where she worked alongside Peter Sellers , andThe flamboyant Doctor Dolittle ( Richard Fleischer , 1967), with Rex Harrison . A restless and versatile man, by the end of the 50s he had created his own production company, Beaver Films, associated with Bryan Forbes . titles likeBitter Silence ( Guy Green , 1960), made them under this label.

He must have liked war movies, since he attended it first as an actor -the essentialThe Great Escape ( John Sturges , 1963), his first foray into Hollywood cinema;Guns at Batasi ( John Guillermin , 1964), which brought him a BAFTA Award for Best Actor;The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) , ( Robert Aldrich ) andThe Burning Yang-Tse ( Robert Wise , 1966)- and later as a director -his debut, the satireOh, what a beautiful war! (1969) and then, more classical,A distant bridge (1977) and the romantic HemingwayanIn love and in war (1996).

As a director he has an uneven dozen films. One of his great ambitions was always to shoot a biopic of a character he greatly admired: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. An idea of ​​his interest in India is given by his previous collaboration with the teacher Satyajit Ray inShatranj Ke Khilari (1977), a film about English colonialism where chess becomes important in the plot. Five years after this film, he delivers a monumental and highly educational title,Gandhi , with Ben Kingsley transformed into the charismatic apostle of non-violence and father of the Indian homeland. The movie beatET, the extraterrestrial at the Oscars and won eight statuettes, two directly for Attenborough, for best film and best director. Steven Spielberg did not hold a grudge against him, because ten years later he gave him the role of John Hammond, a friendly visionary grandpa who “awakens” the dinosaurs inJurassic Park (1993) and its sequel. It must be borne in mind that Attenborough did not appear as an actor in a film from the distant and GreeneanThe human factor ( Otto Preminger , 1979). And it is that as an interpreter he would only have sporadic appearances, like his Santa Claus ofMiracle in the city (1994). The paradox is that as an actor with almost 80 films, Attenborough has never been considered for an Oscar, and instead he swept away the only two statuettes for which he has been nominated, those of Gandhi .

Attenborough director has been given the pejorative and reductionist label of “academicist”. He is actually a director with classic tastes, who does not seek to experiment, he leaves that to others, and who is the author of other valuable biopics such asChaplin (1992) andYoung Winston (1972), and stories as human as the look at apartheid inScream freedom (1987). For whom this writes the best film of him isShadowlands (1993), a delicate look at the problem of pain as well as a beautiful love story and an invitation to live life fully and without fear, which was based on a difficult stage in the life of British writer CS Lewis and featured Powerful performances by Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger . More unsuccessful are the environmentalist Búho Bris (1999), with a Native American as the protagonist, andClosing the Circle (2007), a nostalgic film about war love.

Attenborough responds perfectly to that expression that some sometimes empty of content, but that comes to his mind, that of “a good man”. Concerned about his family, a good professional, involved in films that delve into the mystery of the human being, always looking for the positive, although without denying the dark points. That is why he is not surprised that he has held many positions as president of Channel 4, the British Film Institute or BAFTA, and even a football club, Chelsea.