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Richard Attenborough biography

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Quick Facts

  • NAME: Richard Attenborough
  • OCCUPATION: Actor
  • BIRTH DATE: August 29, 1923 (Age: 89)
  • EDUCATION: Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts
  • PLACE OF BIRTH: Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
  • Full Name: Sir Richard Samuel Attenborough
  • Originally: Richard Samuel Attenborough
  • AKA: Sir Richard
  • AKA: Lord Attenborough
  • Nickname: Dickie
  • AKA: Sir Richard Attenborough
  • AKA: Lord Richard Attenborough
  • AKA: Richard Attenborough
  • ZODIAC SIGN: Virgo

Best Known For

Richard Attenborough is an award-winning actor and director known for helming acclaimed works like Gandhi and Cry Freedom.

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The work, known for stunning scenes of visual beauty, earned eight Academy Awards, including for best director and best picture.

Attenborough went on to direct a film version of the musical The Chorus Line (1985) and helm the acclaimed work Cry Freedom (1987),

which looks at the murder of South-African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko and journalist Don Woods's quest to expose the killing. He continued to pursue directing work with the biopics Chaplin (1992) and Shadowlands (1993), the latter of which focuses on the romance between writers C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham.

Personal Loss and Recent Work

Attenborough returned to acting in his later years, playing Kriss Kringle in the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street, and continued to perform onscreen in a number of projects, including Hamlet (1996), Elizabeth (1998) and the first two Jurassic Park films (1995 and 1997). Also around this time, he directed the films In Love and War (1996) and Grey Owl (1999).

Attenborough and his family suffered a great personal loss in 2004, when his daughter, Jane, and granddaughter, Lucy, were killed in the Indian Ocean tsunami. Since this tragic event, he has spoken openly about grieving.

More recently, Richard Attenborough directed the Shirley Maclaine film Closing the Ring (2007), and penned with friend Diana Hawkins the 2008 autobiography Entirely Up to You, Darling, a phrase used by his mother.

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