Tony Richardson is a famous British director, producer and screenwriter. He won a BAFTA in 1961 and an Oscar in 1963.
Biography
Tony Richardson, whose biography is not so rich in facts, was born on May 5, 1928 in Yorkshire in the UK, in the small town of Shilly. Tony is a shortened version of the name Cecil Antonio. Nothing is known about the director's childhood.
Tony spent his student years at Oxford University. After graduating, Richardson went to work in television as a producer and director in the theater.
Tony didn't choose a career in television for money, he was really interested in the future of cinema in the UK.
In the 1950s, he and his friends founded the Free Cinema movement, which advocated an independent approach to documentary filmmaking.
Another interesting fact in the director's biography is that he was a sponsor of the escape from the UK of George Blake, who was imprisoned and sentenced to 42 years in prison in 1961for spying for the Soviet Union.
Free Cinema Movement
The movement was founded by young directors Lindsay Anderson, Tony Richardson, Karel Reisch and Lorenza Mazzetti. The films they made were non-commercial, so the directors did not have enough funds to organize their distribution.
Lindsay, Tony, Lorenza and Karel decide to organize a rental of their works together. They write a manifesto in which they set out the main ideas of the Free Cinema organization. This draws the attention of the press and viewers to the documentaries of young filmmakers. Over the next three years, five more screenings of "independent films" were organized. The movement was sponsored by Ford Motor Company and the British Film Institute Experimental Film Foundation.
Although the last official screening of "Free Cinema" was in 1959, until 1963 films were released that, in style and format, belong to this movement.
Career
After "Free Cinema" Tony Richardson, whose photos are already flashing in the press, becomes a fairly well-known director. He has the necessary experience and connections in the cinema. Back in the 1950s, Richardson formed Woodfall Film Productions with John Osborne, a playwright and screenwriter, to make and release his own films.
In 1958, the television version of John Osborne's play starring Richard Burton was released."Look back in anger."
The play in three acts directed by Tony Richardson has already been shown on the stage of the Royal Court Theater and on Broadway. The theatrical version of the play was nominated three times for Tony Awards for Best Play, Best Actress (Mary Ure).
The television version of the play, although not received the same warm reviews from critics as the Broadway production, but deserved many movie awards. She was nominated for a Golden Globe in the category of Best Actor, a BAFTA Award in the categories of Best Film, Best Actor, Best British Screenplay and was in the top five best foreign films of the year at the National US Film Critics Council.
The movie "Tom Jones"
Tony Richardson's films are mostly based on classic literary works. He filmed the works of Shakespeare, Nabokov, Fielding, John Irving and other recognized masters of literature.
The picture "Tom Jones", in which Tony took on the role of both director and producer, is an adaptation of Fielding's comedy "The Story of Tom Jones, the Foundling". The film stars Albert Finney, Hugh Griffith, Susannah York, Edith Evans, Diane Silento and others.
As a result, the film received a warm welcome from audiences and critics. First, he was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and the award was given for Best Actor. Then there were the awards. British Academy, Golden Globe and Oscar awards.
The film won four Oscars, including Best Picture, and was nominated in six more categories of this prestigious award. The film received three Golden Globes at once, including Best Picture, and was nominated in four more categories.
"Tom Jones" turned out to be the most successful work of Richardson's entire career.
Private life and death
From 1962 to 1967, the director was married to an actress named Vanessa Redgrave. Tony Richardson has two daughters from this marriage, Natasha and Joely Richardson. Both of them decided to become actresses.
Tony openly admitted to being bisexual when doctors diagnosed him with HIV infection.
November 14, 1991, director Tony Richardson died in Los Angeles, USA at the age of 63.
Filmography
In nearly forty years of his creative activity, Richardson has made not so many films.
In 1955 - Othello and the film adaptation of Look Back in Anger.
In 1960 - film adaptation of The Comedian and Saturday Night, Sunday Morning.
In 1961 - "The Taste of Honey".
In 1962 - "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner".
In 1963 - the film "Tom Jones", which brought the director an Oscar.
In 1965 - "Unforgettable".
In 1967 - the film "Sailor from Gibr altar".
In 1969 - the tapes "Laughter in the Dark" based on the work of V. Nabokov and "Hamlet".
In 1974 - "Favorite".
In 1977 - the painting "Joseph Andrews".
In 1982 - "Border".
In 1984, the New Hampshire Hotel.
In 1990 - the painting "The Phantom at the Opera".
In 1991 - Blue Sky.
