Richard Attenborough - Acting Career

Acting Career

Attenborough's acting career started on stage and he appeared in shows at Leicester's Little Theatre, Dover Street, prior to him going to RADA, where he is still Patron. Attenborough's film career began in 1942 in an uncredited role as a deserting sailor in the Noël Coward/David Lean production In Which We Serve (his name and character were accidentally omitted from the original release-print credits), a role which would help to type-cast him for many years as spivs or cowards in films like London Belongs to Me (1948), Morning Departure (1950) and his breakthrough role as a psychopathic young gangster in the film of Graham Greene's novel Brighton Rock (1947), a part that he had previously played to great acclaim at the Garrick Theatre in 1942.

In 1949 exhibitors voted him the 6th most popular British actor at the box office.

Early in his stage career, Attenborough starred in the West End production of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, which went on to become the world's longest-running stage production. Both he and his wife were among the original cast members of the production, which opened in 1952 at the Ambassadors Theatre and as of 2012 is still running at the St Martins Theatre. They took a 10% profit-participation in the production, which was paid for out of their combined weekly salary ("It proved to be the wisest business decision I've ever made... but foolishly I sold some of my share to open a short-lived Mayfair restaurant called 'The Little Elephant' and later still, disposed of the remainder in order to keep Gandhi afloat.")

Attenborough worked prolifically in British films for the next thirty years, including in the 1950s, appearing in several successful comedies for John and Roy Boulting, such as Private's Progress (1956) and I'm All Right Jack (1959).

In 1963 he appeared in the ensemble cast of The Great Escape as RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett ("Big X"), the head of the escape committee and based on the real life exploits of Roger Bushell. It was his first appearance in a major Hollywood film blockbuster and his most successful film up to that time. During the 1960s, he expanded his range of character roles in films such as Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) and Guns at Batasi (1964), for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM). In 1965 he played Lew Moran opposite James Stewart in The Flight of the Phoenix and in 1967 and 1968, he won back-to-back Golden Globe Awards in the category of Best Supporting Actor, the first time for The Sand Pebbles, again co-starring Steve McQueen and the second time for Doctor Dolittle starring Rex Harrison.

His portrayal of the serial killer John Christie in 10 Rillington Place (1971) garnered excellent reviews and in 1977 he played the ruthless General Outram, again to great acclaim, in Indian director Satyajit Ray's period piece The Chess Players.

He took no acting roles following his appearance in Otto Preminger's version of The Human Factor (1979) until his appearance as the eccentric developer John Hammond in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993) and the popular film's sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). He starred in the remake of Miracle on 34th Street (1994) as Kris Kringle. Since then he has made occasional appearances in supporting roles, including as Sir William Cecil in the historical drama Elizabeth (1998), Jacob in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and as "The Narrator" in the film adaptation of Spike Milligan's comedy book Puckoon (2002).