Tony Richardson
Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson ( born June 5, 1928 in Shipley, Yorkshire, England; † November 14, 1991 in Los Angeles, California, United States ) was an English film director, screenwriter and producer.
Life and career
Tony Richardson was born on 5 June 1928 in Shipley, Yorkshire, the son of a pharmacist. At his home Richardson had found, however never really liked. This rejection was reinforced when he was lucky and was accepted as one of the few middle-class students at one of the exclusive colleges in Oxford. He turned with a lot of love and social awareness of the Institute's own theater, which strongly influenced his later work in the film business.
After successfully graduating from college, he worked as a producer and director at the BBC. In 1956, he then produced in cooperation with the Czech- British director Karel Reisz and the German cameraman Walter Lassally his first short film, Momma Do not Allwow. This film was screened in the short film program Free Cinema, which Tony Richardson, Lindsay Anderson and Karel Reisz founded. Looking Back in Anger, The Comedian, A Taste of Honey and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner was followed by four more Free Cinema Movies from Richardson. He had produced in the specially founded with John Osborne company Woodfall Films All four films.
Richardson hated to work in studios, as had shown him his experience in television, that this cramped his creativity and he kept his distance from his material. But physically he was thus very limited, which played an important role in his films. He had to bring a gift for his actors in a relationship with their environment, which were all of his films, no matter what time or what genre they come coined.
After the black-and- white filmed Free Cinema films wanted Richardson and cinematographer Walter Lassally something full color and fun and met so the novel Tom Jones by Henry Fielding. The resulting film Tom Jones - Between the bed and the gallows became a great financial success for Woodfall film and beyond, he won ever an Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Music ( Academy Awards 1964).
His first success in Hollywood celebrated Richardson with his film Death in Hollywood, which is to live a satire on the American way and die.
1962 Richardson married the actress Vanessa Redgrave. The marriage of the two daughters emerged - the actresses Joely Richardson and Natasha Richardson was divorced in 1967.
Tony Richardson died on November 14, 1991 in Los Angeles of AIDS. His last film Blue Sky was not published until after his death.