Tony Richardson

Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson (5 June 1928 – 14 November 1991) was an English theatre and film director and producer whose career spanned five decades. In 1964 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film Tom Jones.

Tony Richardson
Born	Cecil Antonio Richardson 5 June 1928 Shipley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died	14 November 1991 (aged 63) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Director producer writer
Years active	1952–1991
Spouse(s)	Vanessa Redgrave ​ ​ (m. 1962; div. 1967)​
Children	3, including Natasha and Joely Richardson
Relatives	Daisy Bevan (granddaughter)

Early life

Richardson was born in Shipley, West Riding of Yorkshire in 1928, the son of Elsie Evans (Campion) and Clarence Albert Richardson, a chemist.[1] He was Head Boy at Ashville College, Harrogate and attended Wadham College, Oxford. His Oxford contemporaries included Rupert Murdoch, Margaret Thatcher, Kenneth Tynan, Lindsay Anderson and Gavin Lambert. He had the unprecedented distinction of being the President of both the Oxford University Dramatic Society and the Experimental Theatre Club (the ETC), in addition to being the theatre critic for the university magazine Isis.[2] Those he cast in his student productions included Shirley Williams (as Cordelia), John Schlesinger, Nigel Davenport and Robert Robinson.[3]

Career

Richardson's house from 1928 to 1948, 28 Bingley Road, Saltaire, Shipley

In 1955, in his directing debut,[4] Richardson produced Jean Giraudoux's The Apollo of Bellac for television with Denholm Elliott and Natasha Parry in the main roles.[5] Around the same time he began to be active in Britain's Free Cinema movement, co-directing the non-fiction short Momma Don't Allow (also 1955) with Karel Reisz.

Part of the British "New Wave" of directors, he was involved in the formation of the English Stage Company, along with his close friend George Goetschius and George Devine. He directed John Osborne's play Look Back in Anger at the Royal Court Theatre, and in the same period he directed Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon. Then in 1957 he directed Laurence Olivier as Archie Rice in Osborne's next play The Entertainer, again for the Royal Court.

In 1959, Richardson co-founded Woodfall Film Productions with John Osborne and producer Harry Saltzman, and, as Woodfall's debut, directed the film version of Look Back in Anger (1959), his first feature film.

BFI plaque commemorating Richardson's contribution to cinema

Many of Richardson's films, such as A Taste of Honey and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, were part of the acclaimed kitchen sink realism movement popular in Britain at the time, and several of his films continue to be held as cornerstones of the movement. In 1964 Richardson received two Academy Awards (Best Director and Best Picture) for Tom Jones (1963) based on the novel by Henry Fielding. His next film was The Loved One (1965), during which he worked with established stars including John Gielgud, Rod Steiger and Robert Morse working in Hollywood both on location and on the sound stage. In his autobiography,[6] he confesses that he did not share the general admiration of Haskell Wexler, who worked on The Loved One as both director of photography and a producer.

Among stars that Richardson directed were: Jeanne Moreau, Orson Welles, Rob Lowe, Milton Berle, Trevor Howard, David Hemmings, Nicol Williamson, Tom Courtenay, Lynn Redgrave, Marianne Faithfull, Richard Burton,[7] Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Mick Jagger, Katharine Hepburn, Seth Green, Tommy Lee Jones, Paul Scofield and Judi Dench. His musical composers included Antoine Duhamel, John Addison and Shel Silverstein. His screenwriters were Jean Genet, Christopher Isherwood, Terry Southern, Marguerite Duras, Edward Bond (adapting Vladimir Nabokov) and Edward Albee. Richardson and Osborne eventually fell out[8] during production of the film Charge of the Light Brigade (1968). The basic issue was Osborne's unwillingness to go through the rewrite process, more arduous in film than it is in the theatre. Richardson himself had a different version. In his autobiography (p. 195) he writes that Osborne was angry at being replaced, in a small rôle, by Laurence Harvey to whom the producers had obligations. Osborne took literary revenge by creating a fictionalised and pseudonymous Richardson – a domineering and arrogant character whom everyone hated – in his play The Hotel in Amsterdam.

Richardson's work was stylistically varied. Mademoiselle (1966) was shot noir-style on location in rural France with a static camera, monochrome film stock and no music. The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) was part epic and part animated feature. Ned Kelly (1970) was what might be called an Aussie-western. Laughter in the Dark (1969) and A Delicate Balance (1973) were psycho-dramas. Joseph Andrews (1977), based on another novel by Henry Fielding, was a return to the mood of Tom Jones.

In 1970, Richardson was set to direct a film about Vaslav Nijinsky with a script by Edward Albee. It was to have starred Rudolf Nureyev as Nijinsky, Claude Jade as Romola and Paul Scofield as Diaghilev, but producer Harry Saltzman cancelled the project during pre-production.

In 1974, he travelled to Los Angeles to work on a script (never produced) with Sam Shepard, and took up residence there.[9] Later that year he began work on Mahogany (1975), starring Diana Ross, but was fired by Motown head Berry Gordy shortly after production began, owing to creative differences.

He wrote and directed the comedy-drama The Hotel New Hampshire (1984) based on John Irving's novel of the same name and starring Jodie Foster, Beau Bridges and Rob Lowe. Although it was a box-office failure, the film received a positive critical reception.

Richardson made four more major films before his death. His last, Blue Sky (1994), was not released for nearly three years after he died. Jessica Lange won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance.

In 1966, Richardson financed the escape from Wormwood Scrubs prison of the spy and double agent George Blake.[10][11]

Personal life

Richardson was married to English actress Vanessa Redgrave from 1962 to 1967. The couple had two daughters, Natasha (1963–2009) and Joely Richardson (born 1965), before he left Redgrave for French actress and singer Jeanne Moreau. In 1972, he also had a relationship with Grizelda Grimond, who was a secretary for Richardson's former business partner Oscar Lewenstein, and daughter of British politician Jo Grimond. Grizelda gave birth to his daughter, Katharine Grimond, on 8 January 1973.[12]

Death

Richardson was bisexual, but never acknowledged it publicly until after he contracted HIV. He died of complications from AIDS in 1991.

Filmography (as director)

• The Apollo of Bellac (TV) (1954)
• The Actor's End (TV) (1955)
• Momma Don't Allow (with Karel Reisz; 1955)
• Look Back in Anger (1959)
• The Entertainer (1960)
• A Subject of Scandal and Concern (1960)
• Sanctuary (1961)
• A Taste of Honey (1961)
• The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
• Tom Jones (1963)
• The Loved One (1965)
• Mademoiselle (1966)
• Red and Blue (1967)
• The Sailor from Gibraltar (1967)
• The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)
• Laughter in the Dark (1969)
• Hamlet (1969)
• Ned Kelly (1970)
• A Delicate Balance (1973)
• Dead Cert (1974)
• Mahogany (uncredited; replaced by Berry Gordy, 1975)
• Joseph Andrews (1977)
• A Death in Canaan (1978)
• The Border (1982)
• The Hotel New Hampshire (1984)
• Penalty Phase (TV) (1986)
• Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun (1988)
• Women & Men: Stories of Seduction (with Frederic Raphael and Ken Russell; 1990)
• The Phantom of the Opera (TV) (1990)
• Blue Sky (1994)

Theatre

sources: Adler; Little & McLaughlin; Richardson

Year	Play	House	City	Run
1954	The Changeling	Wyndham's	London	1 perf.
1955	The Country Wife	Theatre Royal Stratford East	London	3 weeks
1955	Mr Kettle & Mrs Moon[13]	Duchess	London
1956	The Mulberry Bush[14]	Royal Court	London
1956	The Crucible[14]	Royal Court	London
1956	Look Back in Anger	Royal Court	London	151 perf.
1956	Cards of Identity	Royal Court	London
1957	Look Back in Anger	John Golden, Lyceum	New York	~1 year
1957	Look Back in Anger		Moscow
1957	The Member of the Wedding	Royal Court	London
1957	The Entertainer	Royal Court	London	4 weeks
1957	The Apollo of Bellac	Royal Court	London
1957	The Chairs	Royal Court	London
1957	The Entertainer	Palace	London	6 months
1957	The Making of Moo	Royal Court	London
1957	Requiem for a Nun	Royal Court	London
1958	The Entertainer	Royale	New York
1958	The Chairs & The Lesson	Phoenix	New York	17 perf.
1958	Flesh to a Tiger	Royal Court	London
1958	Pericles	Shakespeare Memorial Theatre	Stratford-on-Avon
1959	Othello[15]	Shakespeare Memorial Theatre	Stratford-on-Avon
1959	Orpheus Descending	Royal Court	London
1959	Look After Lulu!	Royal Court	London	45 perf.
1959	Look After Lulu!	New	London	5 months
1960	A Taste of Honey		Los Angeles
1960	A Taste of Honey	Booth, Lyceum	New York	376 perf.
1961	The Changeling	Royal Court	London
1961	Luther	Royal Court[16]	London	28 perf.
1961	Luther	Phoenix	London	239 perf.
1962	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Royal Court	London	29 perf.
1962	Semi-Detached	Saville	London
1963	Natural Affection	Booth	New York	31 perf.
1963	Luther	Lunt-Fontanne, St. James	New York	6 months
1963	Semi-Detached	Music Box	New York	12 perf.
1963	Arturo Ui	Lunt-Fontanne	New York	8 perf.
1964	The Milk Train...[17]	Brooks Atkinson	New York	5 perf.
1964	The Seagull	Queen's Theatre	London
1964	St Joan of the Stockyards	Queen's Theatre	London	3 weeks
1969	Hamlet	Roundhouse	London	10 weeks
1969	Hamlet	Lunt-Fontanne	New York[18]	52 perf.
1972	The Threepenny Opera	Prince of Wales	London
1972	I, Claudius	Queen's Theatre	London
1973	Anthony and Cleopatra	Bankside Globe Playhouse	London
1976	The Lady from the Sea	Circle in the Square Theatre	New York
1979	As You Like It	Center Theatre	Long Beach
1983	Toyer	Kennedy Center	Washington
1984	Dreamhouse	L.A. Stage Co.	Hollywood

Bibliography

• Richardson, Tony (1993). Long Distance Runner – A memoir. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-16852-3.
• Heilpern, John (2006). John Osborne: A Patriot for Us. London: Chatto & Windus. ISBN 978-0-7011-6780-6.
• Little, Ruth & McLaughlin, Emily (2007). The Royal Court Theatre Inside Out. Oberon Books. ISBN 978-1-84002-763-1.
• Adler, Tim (2012). The House of Redgrave. London: Aurum. ISBN 978-1-84513-623-9.

References

1. Richardson, pp 1–5
2. Richardson, p.45
3. Adler, p.26
4. David Parkinson, 'Richardson, Cecil Antonio [Tony] (1928–1991)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
5. "Giraudoux Play on Television 'The Apollo of Bellac'", The Times, 13 August 1955
6. Richardson, p. 163
7. Until dismissed by Richardson for repeatedly failing to show up on set as contracted (Richardson, pp. 212–3)
8. Heilpern, pp.346–51
9. Richardson, p. 242.
10. "John Quine". The Daily Telegraph. London. 12 June 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
11. "Cold War 'superspy' George Blake, who escaped from a UK jail and became a Russian hero, dies at 98". Indepenent.ie. 26 December 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020. On the night of October 25, 1966, the trio (financed by Oscar-winning movie director Tony Richardson)
12. Richardson, p.233
13. Richardson was fired by the author, J. B. Priestley, who took over directing himself
14. As Asst. to George Devine
15. Starring Paul Robeson
16. Also Nottingham, Paris, Amsterdam, Edinburgh Festival
17. Starring Tallulah Bankhead
18. Also toured

External links

• Tony Richardson at IMDb
• Tony Richardson at Find a Grave
• BFI: Tony Richardson