Richard Attenborough Dies at Age 90

(Newswire.net — August 25, 2014) Adelaide, SOUTH AUSTRALIA — Acclaimed British actor and director Richard Attenborough has died at the age of 90 on Sunday morning. The cause of his death was not immediately clear. 

 

Some of Attenborough’s best known works include the 1982 film “Gandhi” for which he received eight Academy Awards, including one for best director and one for best picture. The film took him 20 years to make. Of the film, he stated, “I was bankrupt several times. I had to mortgage my house. My family suffered to a certain extend. I placed things at risk because I cares about it so much.”

Richard Attenborough’s other notable works include “The Great Escape,” “Jurassic Park,” “Miracle of 34th Street” and “The Sand Pebbles” for which he won a Golden Globe Award for best supporting actor.

While his earlier career was spent in front of the camera, his later work was carried out more behind the cameras, as an accomplished and highly respected director and producer. In 1950 Attenborough formed the production company, Beaver Films. Projects through this production company included “The League of Gentlemen,” “The Angry Silence” and “Whistle Down the Wind.”

Richard Attenborough received many prestigious awards throughout his long career, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and four BAFTA Awards. In 1967 he received a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), was knighted in 1976 and made a life peer as Baron Attenborough in 1993.

In addition to his film career, Attenborough was an entrepreneur and was heavily involved in many charities, serving as patron for some of the world’s largest charitable organizations like Amnesty International. He served as chairman for numerous theatre and cultural arts organizations.

His final screen appearance was as narrator in the film “Pukoon” in 2002, while his last directing and producing role was in “Closing the Ring” in 2007.

Since 2008, Richard Attenborough had experienced some health problems, including a heart condition, where he was fitted with a pacemaker. He also suffered a stroke in this same year, which left him confined to a wheelchair. Attenborough spent the final year of his life in a nursing home in London with his wife of almost 70 years, Sheila Sim.

Richard Attenborough leaves behind his two children, Michael, a theatre director, and Charlotte, and actress, and several grandchildren. He also leaves behind his two younger brothers, David Attenborough, the famed naturalist, and John Attenborough, an executive at Alfa Romeo.

Lord Attenborough died on Sunday, only five days short of his 91st birthday.