Richardson, Tony

Richardson, Tony (1928-1991), British theatre and film director, born in Shipley, Yorkshire, whose theatrical success led to him becoming the first of Britain’s “new wave” film directors, specializing in adaptations from plays and novels. He read English Literature at the University of Oxford, where from 1949 to 1952 he directed a number of classic plays, including The Duchess of Malfi and Romeo and Juliet, for the University Dramatic Society. After a period in BBC television marked by similar productions, he and Karel Reisz directed the acclaimed, if technically crude, short film Momma Don’t Allow (1955); it was shown in a programme at the National Film Theatre, London, highlighting the work of the Free Cinema directors, who argued for a greater awareness of social realities to be portrayed in films.

Also in 1955 he joined the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre, where he directed the original stage productions of two plays by John Osborne—Look Back in Anger (1956) and The Entertainer (1957)—both of which he later converted into films. The former film (1959) featured Richard Burton, Mary Ure, and Claire Bloom; the latter (1960) starred Laurence Olivier in the part he had created on stage. Although both films were commercially unsuccessful and considered visually unexciting, Richard Zanuck invited Richardson to direct an adaptation of William Faulkner’s Sanctuary (1960), with Lee Remick and Yves Montand, but this too failed to make an impact. More adaptations followed: in Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey (1961), he produced a convincing and moving film, while Alan Sillitoe’s The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962, starring Tom Courtenay) was awkwardly miscast and mishandled.

The sensational success of Tom Jones (1963, starring Albert Finney), facetiously conceived as a sexual romp, and raggedly made, took its distributors by surprise (it won Academy Awards for Best Film and Best Director). It was the high point of Richardson’s career. His next important film, The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), starring Trevor Howard as the hapless Lord Cardigan, received short shrift from the public and most critics, uncomfortable with its scathing condemnation of the British elite and disappointed by its apparent lack of historical insight. After a quickly made, intense, and exciting film version of Hamlet (1969) with Nicol Williamson, his career seemed to lose momentum, though just before his death his last film, Blue Sky (starring Jessica Lange, not released until 1994) was considered to be something of a return to form. He was married to Vanessa Redgrave from 1962-1967, and is the father of the actresses Natasha Richardson and Joely Richardson.