Richard Attenborough

Richard Attenborough was a British actor, director and producer who was best known for feature films such as The Great Escape, Gandhi, Chaplin and Jurassic Park. In later years, he also worked in television.

Born in Cambridge, England, where his father was a don at Emmanuel College, Attenborough left school in his teens and was admitted to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He trained as a stage performer and broke into films in 1942 with a role in the wartime drama In Which We Serve.

In the years that followed, he acted in numerous films, including Brighton Rock, Private's Progress, I'm All Right Jack, The Mousetrap, Seance on a Wet Afternoon, Guns at Batasi, The Great Escape, The Sand Pebbles, Doctor Dolittle and The Human Factor.

In the 1970s, Attenborough began to devote more attention to directing, which he first pursued with the 1969 release Oh! What a Lovely War, followed by Young Winston, A Bridge Too Far and Magic. In 1982 he won two Academy Awards for the biopic Gandhi — one for directing, one as a producer when it was named best picture of the year.

His other directing credits included A Chorus Line, Cry Freedom, Chaplin, Shadowlands, In Love and War, Grey Owl and Closing the Ring.

With a role in the 1993 action thriller Jurassic Park, he began acting more regularly. His later work included Miracle on 34th Street, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Elizabeth.

He also appeared in the made-for-television movies David Copperfield, The Railway Children and Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story.

Attenborough died August 24, 2014, in London. He was 90.