Lord Richard Attenborough
EMMA Supporter
Lord Richard Attenborough is a British Actor, Film Director, Producer and a Social campaigner who has been involved in many groundbreaking films and social campaigns. He was awarded the EMMA Lifetime Achievement for his humanitarian work. Richard was a great supporter of EMMA’s work to promote social cohesion within society and the creative industries. He helped to define British cinema and EMMA built a close friendship with Richard due to Donald Woods.
Richard Attenborough was born in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. His mother (Maria Attenborough) was a founding member of the Marriage Guidance Council, and his father (Frederick Attenborough) was a scholar, academic administrator, and fellow at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
From 1943 to 1946, Richard served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, spending part of that time with the RAF film production unit. He then volunteered to fly with the film production unit as a pilot but sustained permanent ear damage after further training.
Richard went on to gain accolades for his film portrayals of a sociopathic thug in Brighton Rock, a soldier in the comedy Private’s Progress and its sequel, I’m All Right Jack, and a squadron leader engineering a breakout from a German POW camp in The Great Escape.
After a lengthy acting hiatus, Richard returned to the silver screen in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, playing the owner of the titular dinosaur theme park, a role he reprised in the 1997 sequel.
Richard then played Kris Kringle in the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street and appeared as Sir William Cecil in Elizabeth.
Richard’s directorial credits include Gandhi, the biographical film about Mohandas K. Gandhi, A Bridge Too Far, the anti apartheid film Cry Freedom and the Charlie Chaplin biopic Chaplin.
In 1967, Richard was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and was made a Knight Bachelor in 1976, having the honour conferred on 10 February that year.
In 1987, Richard became a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF and a member of the House of Lords in 1993 as a life peerage for public service and his film work, having helped establish Bafta.
In 1998, Richard received the Japan Art Association’s Praemium Imperial prize for theatre and film.
The late Diana, Princess of Wales opened Richard Attenborough’s Arts Centre, an arts centre in Leicester inspired by Richard’s work, in 1997 after six years of funding efforts from Lord Richard Attenborough himself.
On 26th December 2004, Richard’s eldest daughter, Jane Holland, along with her mother-in-law, Audrey Holland, and Richard’s granddaughter, Lucy, were tragically killed during their holiday when a tsunami caused by the Indian Ocean earthquake struck Khao Lak, Thailand.
On 11th May 2005, Attenborough read a lesson at the national remembrance service for those killed during the tsunami and earthquake.
Between 2006 and 2007, Richard worked on the film Closing the Ring, his last project as a director and producer. On 13 July 2006, he and his brother David were awarded the titles of Distinguished Honorary Fellows of the University of Leicester.
On 20th November 2008, Richard was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Drama from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) in Glasgow. He was an Honorary Fellow of Bangor University for his film-making contributions.
Lord Richard Attenborough CBE sadly passed-away of heart failure on 24th August 2014.
On 19 October 2016, the Arts for India charity committee honoured him posthumously at an event hosted at BAFTA’s home in Piccadilly.
Lord Richard Attenborough has greatly impacted cinema, the arts, education, and social justice.
Richard was a longtime advocate of education that does not judge on colour, race, or religion.
