52 Facts About Lord Attenborough

Lord Attenborough was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, as well as the life president of Chelsea FC.

Lord Attenborough joined the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and served in the film unit, going on several bombing raids over Europe and filming the action from the rear gunner's position.

Lord Attenborough was the older brother of broadcaster Sir David Attenborough and motor executive John Attenborough.

Lord Attenborough was married to actress Sheila Sim from 1945 until his death.

Lord Attenborough won two Academy Awards for Gandhi in 1983: Best Picture and Best Director.

Related searches

Lord Attenborough won four BAFTA Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and the 1983 BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement.

Lord Attenborough then volunteered to fly with the Film Unit and after further training, where he sustained permanent ear damage, qualified as a sergeant, flying on several missions over Europe filming from the rear gunner's position to record the outcome of RAF Bomber Command sorties.

Lord Attenborough's acting career started on stage and he appeared in shows at Leicester's Little Theatre, Dover Street, prior to his going to RADA, where he remained Patron until his death.

Lord Attenborough played the lead at age 22 as an RAF cadet pilot in Journey Together, in which top-billed Edward G Robinson played his instructor.

Early in his stage career, Lord 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.

At the beginning of the 1950s Lord Attenborough featured on radio on the BBC Light Programme introducing records.

Lord Attenborough worked prolifically in British films for the next 30 years, including in the 1950s, appearing in several successful comedies for John and Roy Boulting, such as Private's Progress and I'm All Right Jack.

Lord Attenborough took no acting roles following his appearance in Otto Preminger's version of The Human Factor until his appearance as John Hammond in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park and the film's sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

Lord Attenborough starred in the remake of Miracle on 34th Street as Kris Kringle.

Lord Attenborough made his only appearance in a film adaptation of Shakespeare when he played the English ambassador who announces that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead at the end of Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet.

Lord Attenborough later directed two epic period films: Young Winston, based on the early life of Winston Churchill, and A Bridge Too Far, an all-star account of Second World War Operation Market Garden.

Lord Attenborough won the 1982 Academy Award for Best Director for his historical epic Gandhi, and as the film's producer, the Academy Award for Best Picture; the same film garnered two Golden Globes, this time for Best Director and Best Foreign Film, in 1983.

Lord Attenborough had been attempting to get the project made for 18 years.

Lord Attenborough directed the screen version of the musical A Chorus Line and the anti-apartheid drama Cry Freedom.

Lord Attenborough was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director for both films.

Lord Attenborough was the patron of the United World Colleges movement, whereby he contributed to the colleges that are part of the organisation.

Lord Attenborough was a frequent visitor to the Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa.

Lord Attenborough founded the Jane Holland Creative Centre for Learning at Waterford Kamhlaba in Swaziland in memory of his daughter who died in the tsunami on 26 December 2004.

Lord Attenborough was a longtime advocate of education that does not judge upon colour, race, creed or religion.

Lord Attenborough founded The Richard Attenborough Arts Centre on the Leicester University campus in 1997, specifically designed to provide access for the disabled, in particular as practitioners.

Related searches

Lord Attenborough was elected to the post of Chancellor of the University of Sussex on 20 March 1998, replacing The Duke of Richmond and Gordon.

Lord Attenborough stood down as Chancellor of the university following graduation in July 2008.

Lifelong supporter of Chelsea Football Club, Lord Attenborough served as a director of the club from 1969 to 1982 and between 1993 and 2008 held the honorary position of Life Vice President.

Lord Attenborough was head of the consortium Dragon International Film Studios, which was constructing a film and television studio complex in Llanilid, Wales, nicknamed "Valleywood".

Lord Attenborough had a lifelong ambition to make a film about his hero the political theorist and revolutionary Thomas Paine, whom he called "one of the finest men that ever lived".

Lord Attenborough's father was the principal of University College, Leicester, now the city's university.

Lord Attenborough had two younger brothers: naturalist and broadcaster David and motor trade executive John.

Lord Attenborough married actress Sheila Sim in Kensington on 22 January 1945.

Lord Attenborough trained with Chelsea Football Club for a fortnight, subsequently becoming good friends with those at the club.

Lord Attenborough went on to become a director during the 1970s, helping to prevent the club losing its home ground by holding onto his club shares and donating them, worth over £950,000, to Chelsea.

In 2008, Lord Attenborough was appointed Life President of Chelsea Football Club.

Service was held on 8 March 2005 and Lord Attenborough read a lesson at the national memorial service on 11 May 2005.

Lord Attenborough later described the Boxing Day of 2004 as "the worst day of my life".

Lord Attenborough publicly endorsed the Labour Party in the 2005 General Election, despite his opposition to the Iraq War.

In May 2011, David Lord Attenborough said his brother had been confined to a wheelchair since his stroke in 2008, but was still capable of holding a conversation.

In October 2012, it was announced that Lord Attenborough was putting the family home, Old Friars, with its attached offices, Beaver Lodge, which came complete with a sound-proofed cinema in the garden, on the market for £11.

Lord Attenborough died at Denville Hall, on 24 August 2014, at the age of 90.

Lord Attenborough requested that his ashes be interred in a vault at St Mary Magdalene church in Richmond beside those of his daughter Jane Holland and his granddaughter, Lucy, both of whom had died in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

Lord Attenborough was survived by his wife of 69 years, their oldest and youngest children, six grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and his younger brother David.

Lord Attenborough was made a Knight Bachelor in the 1976 New Year Honours, having the honour conferred on 10 February 1976 and on 30 July 1993 he was created a life peer as Baron Attenborough, of Richmond upon Thames in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.

Related searches

Lord Attenborough was the subject of This Is Your Life in December 1962 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the Savoy Hotel, during a dinner held to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Agatha Christie play The Mousetrap, in which he had been an original cast member.

In 1983, Lord Attenborough was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, and the Martin Luther King Jr.

Lord Attenborough was awarded France's most distinguished awards, the Legion of Honour and the Order of Arts and Letters and the Order of the Companions of O R Tambo by the South African government 'for his contribution to the struggle against apartheid'.

On 20 November 2008, Lord Attenborough was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Drama from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

Lord Attenborough was an Honorary Fellow of Bangor University for his contributions to film making.

Lord Attenborough is portrayed by Eric Idle as effusive and simpering.

In 2012 Lord Attenborough was portrayed by Simon Callow in the BBC Four biopic The Best Possible Taste, about Kenny Everett.