The world has truly lost a great actor, mentor, and all around good guy. Sources began reporting today that Lord Richard Attenborough has passed away days short of his 91st birthday. His son confirmed his death to be at noon on Sunday. Previously in 2013, Attenborough had suffered a massive stroke which left him in a coma for several days and wheel-chair bound for the next year. Still, all who knew him said he remained bright and as gracious as ever. It appears he has now passed due to old age.
Lord Richard Attenborough is a 1x Oscar Winner, 3x Golden Globe Winner, and 4x BAFTA Winner. During his career he appeared in over 78 titles as well as directing and producing a dozen others. He’s most known for his roles in The Dock Brief (1962), The Sand Pebbles (1966), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Gandhi (1982), A Chorus Line (1985), Cry Freedom (1987), Shadowlands (1993), and the Miracle on 34th Street remake in 1994.
For us – as horror and scifi fans – Attenborough only has several credits to his name in our category, although the last two are certainly prolific. These roles include mystery thriller Hell Is Sold Out (1951), scifi-drama Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964), fantasy Dr. Doolittle (1967), Jurassic Park (1993), and. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). Also, Attenborough directed one horror flick, the Golden Globe Nominated Magic, which starred Anthony Hopkins, Ann-Margret, and Burgess Meredith. In Magic, “A ventriloquist is at the mercy of his vicious dummy while he tries to renew a romance with his high school sweetheart.”
Among may accomplishments in his lifetime, Richard was a World War II Veteran and was officially knighted in 1976. On separate occasions he was the president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Richard retired from acting in the mid-1990s, however, in the early 2000s he was motivated to give one more film franchise a shot. He was very much interested in playing Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter movies. Obviously producers went in a different direction, but it’s still cool to think about what it would be like had he gotten the part.
All of us here at HorrorSociety.com send his family, friends, and fans our deepest sympathies. He was certainly a legend and his legacy will live on for many more decades to come.
R.I.P. Lord Richard Attenborough
August 29, 1923 – August 24, 2014
