Attenborough, Richard Samuel (1923– )

English director, actor, and producer. He appeared in such films as Brighton Rock (1947) and 10 Rillington Place (1971), and directed Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), and such biopics as Gandhi (which won eight Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director) (1982) and Cry Freedom (1987).

Attenborough made his screen acting debut in In Which We Serve (1942), and co-produced the socially conscious The Angry Silence (1960). He subsequently concentrated on directing – other films include Chaplin (1992), Shadowlands (1993), In Love and War (1996), and Grey Owl (1999) – but returned to the other side of the camera in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993). He also acted in the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street, Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996), and Elizabeth (1998).

His films as a director are often grandiose in scale, focusing on the personal dramas of historical figures whose lives have helped shape 20th-century culture and history. He was knighted in 1976 and made a baron in 1993. He is the brother of naturalist David Attenborough.