Ralph Richardson

Infobox Actor
name = Ralph Richardson


imagesize = 240px
birthname = Ralph David Richardson
birthdate = birth date|1902|12|19|df=y
birthplace = Tivoli Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
deathdate = death date and age|1983|10|10|1902|12|19|df=y
deathplace = Marylebone, London, England
yearsactive = 1921 - 1983
spouse = Muriel Hewitt (1924-1942)
Meriel Forbes (1944-1983)
baftaawards = Best British Actor
1952 "The Sound Barrier"
awards = Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival)
1962 "Long Day's Journey Into Night"
NBR Award for Best Actor
1949 "The Heiress" ; "The Fallen Idol"
1952 "The Sound Barrier"
NYFCC Award for Best Actor
1952 "The Sound Barrier"
NYFCC Award for Best Supporting Actor
1984 ""

Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 – 10 October 1983) was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films.

Early life

Richardson was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, the son of Lydia (née Russell) and Arthur Richardson. [ [http://www.thepeerage.com/p18358.htm thePeerage.com - Person Page 18358 ] ] When he was a baby, his mother left his father and took him with her to Gloucester, where he was raised in the Roman Catholic faith of his mother (his father and brothers were Quakers). [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5229/is_2003/ai_n19152787 Richardson, Ralph | UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography | Find Articles at BNET ] ] His father supported them with a small allowance. Lydia Richardson wished Ralph to become a priest. Ralph was an altar boy in Brighton, England and was educated by the Xaverian Brothers, but was never particularly religious.

Career

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Richardson made his West End début in 1926. Thereafter he became one of the Old Vic Theatre's major stars, one of his early big roles being Caliban to the Prospero of John Gielgud, a professional association that lasted for four decades. Richardson scored additional Old Vic triumphs as Enobarbus in "Antony and Cleopatra," Toby Belch in "Twelfth Night," and Bottom in "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

At Malvern in 1932, he played Face in Ben Jonson's "The Alchemist". In 1933 he played the title role in W. Somerset Maugham's final play "Sheppey" at Wyndham's Theatre, and became an undisputed West End star in "The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse" (1936).

After active service in World War II serving as a Lieutenant-Commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Richardson joined Laurence Olivier and the director John Burrell as co-director of the Old Vic Theatre, where his notable roles included Falstaff (to Olivier's Hotspur), Bluntschli in "Arms and the Man" (Olivier as Sergius), Cyrano in "Cyrano de Bergerac", and "Peer Gynt", in which Olivier took the cameo role of the Button Moulder. Richardson also directed Alec Guinness in "Richard II," taking on the role of John of Gaunt in the production when the Old Vic governors insisted that either Richardson or Olivier were contractually obligated to act in all the productions. After he was dismissed at the Old Vic, Richardson appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-on-Avon but had mixed results, with his 1952 performance as Macbeth being the greatest failure of his career. He fared better at the Bristol Old Vic in his appearance as Volpone to Anthony Quayle's Mosca in Ben Jonson's "Volpone", in the title role of "Timon of Athens" in his 1952 return to the Old Vic, and on Broadway in his Tony-nominated role in "The Waltz of the Toreadors" (1957). He made a misstep in turning down the English language premiere of "Waiting for Godot," a decision that he regretted for the remainder of his life.

With his friends Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud, he appeared in Olivier's film of "Richard III" (1955) and in several scenes of the mini-series "Wagner" (1983), which was released shortly after Richardson's death. Sadly he is the least remembered of the trio, as people often quote 'Olivier and Gielgud', but forget Richardson. This may be due to the fact he did less film work than Olivier and Gielgud, despite being the same calibre of actor as they were.

In 1960s he appeared successfully as Sir Peter Teazle in John Gielgud's production of "School for Scandal", as the Father in "Six Characters in Search of an Author" in London (1963), a return to Nick Bottom in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1964) and the original production of Joe Orton's controversial farce "What The Butler Saw" in the West End at the Queen's Theatre in 1969 with Stanley Baxter, Coral Browne, and Hayward Morse.

In the 1970s he appeared in the West End (for example in William Douglas-Home's play "Lloyd George Knew My Father" with Peggy Ashcroft), and with the National Theatre under Peter Hall's direction, where among the classics he played Firs in "The Cherry Orchard" and the title role in Ibsen's "John Gabriel Borkman" along with Wendy Hiller and Peggy Ashcroft. He continued his long stage association with John Gielgud, appearing together in two new works, David Storey's "Home" and Harold Pinter's "No Man's Land".

Radio and Television

From 1954 – 1955 he played the character of Dr. John Watson (mistakenly called 'James' by the announcer) in an American/BBC radio co-production of canonical Sherlock Holmes stories, which starred Sir John Gielgud as the famous consulting detective and featured Orson Welles as the villainous Professor Moriarty. In the 1960s he played Lord Emsworth on BBC television in dramatisations of P.G.Wodehouse's Blandings Castle stories, with his real-life wife Meriel Forbes playing his domineering sister Connie, and Stanley Holloway as his butler Beach.

Recordings

Richardson made several spoken word recordings for the Caedmon Audio label in the 1960s. He re-created his role as "Cyrano de Bergerac" opposite Anna Massey as Roxane, and played the title role in a complete recording of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar (play)", with a cast that included Anthony Quayle as Brutus, John Mills as Cassius, and Alan Bates as Marc Antony. He also recorded some English Romantic poetry, such as "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", for the label.

Film

His film appearances included "The Citadel", "The Heiress" (his first nomination for an Academy Award), "Richard III" (playing Buckingham to Olivier's Richard), "Our Man in Havana" (with Alec Guinness and Noel Coward), "O Lucky Man!", "Oh! What a Lovely War", "Dragonslayer", "Tales from the Crypt" (as the Crypt Keeper himself) and "Time Bandits". He played the sixth Earl of Greystoke in the 1983 movie "", for which he was again nominated for an Academy Award. His last film appearance was in "Give My Regards to Broad Street" starring Paul McCartney.

Music

Richardson recorded the narration for Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf", and the superscriptions for Vaughan Williams' "Sinfonia Antartica" - both with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Prokofiev conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent and the Vaughan Williams by André Previn.

Awards and honours

Richardson was knighted by King George VI in 1947.

In 1963, he won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival for "Long Day's Journey Into Night".

He won the BAFTA Award for Best British Actor for "The Sound Barrier" (1952), and was nominated on another three occasions.

He was also nominated for three Tony Awards for his work on the New York stage, for his performances in "The Waltz of the Toreadors", "Home", and "No Man's Land".

He received Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominations for "The Heiress" and ', and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards for "The Sound Barrier" and '. His Oscar nomination and New York Film Critics Circle Award for "Greystoke" were both posthumous. He is the only person ever posthumously nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Personal life

Richardson was a nephew of the mathematician Lewis Fry Richardson. He was married to the actress Meriel Forbes (a member of the theatrical Forbes-Robertson family).

Richardson habitually rode a motorbike even in his seventies. He rode a Norton Dominator and in his later years changed to a BMW.

Richardson died of a stroke, aged 80, and was interred at Highgate Cemetery.

Filmography

* "The Ghoul" (1933)
* "Things to Come" (1936)
* "The Man Who Could Work Miracles" (1936)
* "The Divorce of Lady X" (1938)
* "South Riding" (1938)
* "The Citadel" (1938)
* "Q Planes" (1939)
* "The Four Feathers" (1939)
* "The Silver Fleet" (1946)
* "School for Secrets" (1948)
* "Anna Karenina" (1948)
* "The Fallen Idol" (1948)
* "The Heiress" (1949)
* "Home at Seven" (1952)
* "The Sound Barrier" (1952)
* "The Holly and the Ivy" (1952)
* "Richard III" (1955)
* "Our Man in Havana" (1959)
* "Oscar Wilde" (1960)
* "Exodus" (1960)
* "Long Day's Journey Into Night" (1962)
* "The 300 Spartans" (1962)
* "Woman of Straw" (1964)
* "Dr Zhivago" (1965)
* "The Wrong Box" (1966)
* "Khartoum" (1966)
* "Midas Run" (1969)
* "Oh! What a Lovely War" (1969)
* "Battle of Britain" (1969)
* "The Bed-Sitting Room" (1969)
* "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" (1971)
* "Lady Caroline Lamb" (1972)
* "Tales from the Crypt" (1972)
* "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (1972)
* "A Doll's House" (1973)
* "O Lucky Man!" (1973)
* "Rollerball" (1975)
* "The Man in the Iron Mask (1977 film)" (1977)
* "Jesus of Nazareth (Zeffirelli version)" (1977)
* "Watership Down" (1978) (voice)
* "Dragonslayer" (1981)
* "Time Bandits" (1981)
* "Greystoke - The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes" (1984)
* "Give My Regards to Broad Street" (1984)

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title = NYFCC Award for Best Actor
years = 1952
for" The Sound Barrier"
before= Arthur Kennedy
for "Bright Victory"
after = Burt Lancaster
for "From Here to Eternity"

References

External links

*
*
* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/460141/ "bfi" Screenonline: Ralph Richardson]
* [http://www.bris.ac.uk/theatrecollection/search/people_sub_plays_all?forename=Ralph&surname=RICHARDSON&job=Actor&pid=186&image_view=Yesamp;x=19amp;y=17 performances listed in the Theatre Archive, University of Bristol]
* [http://www.bl.uk/projects/theatrearchive/richardson.html Richardson Archive] in the [http://www.bl.uk/collections/manuscripts.html British Library Manuscripts Collections]
*

Persondata
NAME= Richardson, Ralph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Richardson, Ralph David
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Actor
DATE OF BIRTH= 1902-12-19
PLACE OF BIRTH= Tivoli Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
DATE OF DEATH= 1983-10-10
PLACE OF DEATH= Marylebone, London, England