Profile of Ralph Richardson on Famous Like Me

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, did their best to make the transition to film.

Richardson was born in Cheltenham and made his West End début in 1926. Thereafter he became one of the Old Vic's major stars. After World War II, he became co-director of the Vic, and also appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-on-Avon.

In 1954-1955 he played the character of Dr. John Watson (mistakenly called 'James' in several episodes) in an American/BBC radio co-production of canonical Sherlock Holmes stories, which starred John Gielgud as the famous consulting detective.

His film appearances included The Heiress, Richard III (playing Buckingham to Laurence Olivier's Richard), O Lucky Man!, Oh! What a Lovely War, Dragonslayer, and Time Bandits. His career has often been compared with that of Olivier, Alec Guinness and John Gielgud.

Richardson was knighted by King George VI in 1947. His final film appearence was as the sixth Earl of Greystoke in the 1983 movie Greystoke - The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, for which he was again nominated for an Academy Award. He also won the BAFTA Award for Best British Actor for The Sound Barrier (1952), and was nominated on another three occasions. In 1963, he won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival for Long Day's Journey Into Night. He was also nominated for three Tony Awards for his work on the New York stage.

Sir Ralph died of a stroke at the age of eighty, and was interred at Highgate Cemetery.

He was the nephew of the mathematician Lewis Fry Richardson.

Selected filmography

• Things to Come (1936)
• The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936)
• South Riding (1938)
• The Four Feathers (1939)
• The Silver Fleet (1943)
• The Fallen Idol (1948)
• Anna Karenina (1948)
• The Heiress (1949)
• The Sound Barrier (1952)
• Richard III (1956)
• Woman of Straw (1964)
• Dr Zhivago (1965)
• Khartoum (1966)
• The Wrong Box (1966)
• Battle of Britain (1969)
• O Lucky Man! (1973)
• Time Bandits (1981)
• Greystoke - The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)

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