Richard Attenborough Tribute.

Hi everybody and welcome back.

I begin this weeks blog with the sad news of the death of Lord Richard Attenborough, who passed away at the age of 90 after recent years of ill health. A short man in stature but a giant of the film industry.He had been involved in the movie industry for 7 decades as an actor, director and producer. Some of you, especially younger readers, might not at first know of him and the legacy he leaves behind but undoubtedly without him we would not have a film industry in Britain, as he single-handedly rescued the failing BFI (British Film Industry) during the 70's and 80's with his own money and tirelessly raising funds and awareness that all the big British stars of today are a result.

Looking back at his career which began as a teenage actor in the early 1940's in "In which we serve" he then went on to appear in over thirty movies over the next two decades in which "Brighton Rock" is by far his most recognized role. In 1964 he turned his film talent and knowledge to producing, via his production company Beaver Films, with his debut film "The Angry Silence" It would of course be a natural progression into directing which he made the step up to in 1969 with "Oh! What a Lovely War" a musical about World War One and starred established British talent including the late great John Mills and the legendary actor Laurence Olivier. I shall never forget the end scene of the film as the camera pans out to reveal a field of white crosses in a field, in a time of no CGI this was remarkable as their were over fifteen thousand crosses planted in the ground, such detail is quite unbelievable, but it is a scene that brilliantly shows the futile meaning of war.It was around this time that Attenborough had a grand idea for a film that he would not be able to raise the money for for another ten years, this film of course became his biggest world wide hit, Ghandi. The film was released in 1982 and won 8 Oscars at the Academy Awards including 2 for Attenborough, best film and best director. The film also introduced the world to a relatively unknown actor in the lead role, now well known to everyone, Sir Ben Kingsley. In his later years Attenborough went onto direct and star in many more movies, one of which included "Jurassic Park" directed by Steven Spielberg in which he played, as my friend informed me "The old guy with a stick." The old guy being the pivotal character John Hammond, who had created the dinosaur island.

To end this tribute I would like to recommend you watch a selection of his films that shows his truly great talent as an actor and director. As an actor my choices would be "Brighton Rock" "The Great Escape" "The Sand Pebbles" and "10 Rillington Place" in which he plays real life serial killer John Christie quite sinisterly. As Attenborough the director I want to inform you of his films you may not have seen or at least did not realize he had directed, they are "Young Winston" a biography of Sir Winston Churchills formative years, "Magic" a creepy thriller starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, "Cry Freedom" which gave Denzel Washington his big break and lastly "Chaplin" in which Robert Downey, Jr. gave an amazing performance as Charlie Chaplin.

Away from the movies his brother is the TV personality David Attenborough, who is famous for his BBC nature programmes and he tragically lost his daughter and grand-daughter in the 2004 tsunami in Thailand.

Even though he has gone I believe his legacy will live on through his films for many years to come.

Due to the sad news I will write about TV series' being made into movies next week.

Have a great week and enjoy the movies.

Miles Dunton.