Tony Richardson


Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson was an English filmmaker. He won two Academy Awards for directing and producing comedy film Tom Jones.

Early life

Richardson was born in Shipley, West Riding of Yorkshire in 1928, the son of Elsie Evans and Clarence Albert Richardson, a chemist. 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, in addition to being the theatre critic for the university magazine Isis. Those he cast in his student productions included Shirley Williams, John Schlesinger, Nigel Davenport and Robert Robinson.

Career

In 1955, in his directing debut, Richardson produced Jean Giraudoux's The Apollo of Bellac for television with Denholm Elliott and Natasha Parry in the main roles. 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 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, his first feature film.
In 1964 Richardson received two Academy Awards for Tom Jones based on the novel by Henry Fielding. His next film was The Loved One, 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, 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, Lynn Redgrave, Marianne Faithfull, Richard Burton, 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 and Edward Albee. Richardson and Osborne eventually fell out during production of the film Charge of the Light Brigade. 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 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 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 was part epic and part animated feature. Ned Kelly was what might be called an Aussie-western. Laughter in the Dark and A Delicate Balance were psycho-dramas. Joseph Andrews, 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 with Sam Shepard, and took up residence there. Later that year he began work on Mahogany, 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 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, 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.

Personal life

Richardson was married to English actress Vanessa Redgrave from 1962 to 1967. The couple had two daughters, Natasha and Joely Richardson, 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.

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)

sources: Adler; Little & McLaughlin; Richardson
YearPlayHouseCityRun
1954The ChangelingWyndham'sLondon1 perf.
1955The Country WifeTheatre Royal Stratford EastLondon3 weeks
1955Mr Kettle & Mrs MoonDuchessLondon
1956The Mulberry BushRoyal CourtLondon
1956The CrucibleRoyal CourtLondon
1956Look Back in AngerRoyal CourtLondon151 perf.
1956Cards of IdentityRoyal CourtLondon
1957Look Back in AngerJohn Golden, LyceumNew York~1 year
1957Look Back in AngerMoscow
1957The Member of the WeddingRoyal CourtLondon
1957The EntertainerRoyal CourtLondon4 weeks
1957The Apollo of BellacRoyal CourtLondon
1957The ChairsRoyal CourtLondon
1957The EntertainerPalaceLondon6 months
1957The Making of MooRoyal CourtLondon
1957Requiem for a NunRoyal CourtLondon
1958The EntertainerRoyaleNew York
1958The Chairs & The LessonPhoenixNew York17 perf.
1958Flesh to a TigerRoyal CourtLondon
1958PericlesShakespeare Memorial TheatreStratford-on-Avon
1959OthelloShakespeare Memorial TheatreStratford-on-Avon
1959Orpheus DescendingRoyal CourtLondon
1959Look After Lulu!Royal CourtLondon45 perf.
1959Look After Lulu!NewLondon5 months
1960A Taste of HoneyLos Angeles
1960A Taste of HoneyBooth, LyceumNew York376 perf.
1961The ChangelingRoyal CourtLondon
1961LutherRoyal CourtLondon28 perf.
1961LutherPhoenixLondon239 perf.
1962A Midsummer Night's DreamRoyal CourtLondon29 perf.
1962Semi-DetachedSavilleLondon
1963Natural AffectionBoothNew York31 perf.
1963LutherLunt-Fontanne, St. JamesNew York6 months
1963Semi-DetachedMusic BoxNew York12 perf.
1963Arturo UiLunt-FontanneNew York8 perf.
1964The Milk Train...Brooks AtkinsonNew York5 perf.
1964The SeagullQueen'sLondon
1964St Joan of the StockyardsQueen'sLondon3 weeks
1969HamletRoundhouseLondon10 weeks
1969HamletLunt-FontanneNew York52 perf.
1972The Threepenny OperaPrince of WalesLondon
1972I, ClaudiusQueen'sLondon
1973Anthony and CleopatraBankside Globe PlayhouseLondon
1976The Lady from the SeaCircle in the Square TheatreNew York
1979As You Like ItCenter TheatreLong Beach
1983ToyerKennedy CenterWashington
1984DreamhouseL.A. Stage Co.Hollywood