0:00:03 > 0:00:08His face was familiar from the 1940s onwards, as a major film actor.
0:00:09 > 0:00:10Good luck to us, Danny.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14Lord Richard Attenborough, as he became known in later life,
0:00:14 > 0:00:17was a success on both sides of the Atlantic.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19Open up, Harry.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22We dig, around the clock.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24Oh, I've never seen anything like it.
0:00:24 > 0:00:29Versatile and skilled, he appeared in over 50 films.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31Hey, you got a minute?
0:00:31 > 0:00:32- Yeah.- Come on, I'll show you.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38As a director, he created work on an epic scale.
0:00:40 > 0:00:45His impact on the entire film industry will be everlasting.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49He knew, frankly,
0:00:49 > 0:00:56that cinema is probably more influential than political power.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01He was wedding the two together.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03He was a great equaliser.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07He democratised every single space that he was in,
0:01:07 > 0:01:12just learn your lines and you will be given, by that director,
0:01:12 > 0:01:16Attenborough, the greatest place in the world to stand.
0:01:19 > 0:01:24I am aware that I must have given you much cause for irritation,
0:01:24 > 0:01:25your Excellency.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27I hope it will not stand between us as men.
0:01:29 > 0:01:36When someone famous is remembered, we think of their name,
0:01:36 > 0:01:40and then we think of their accomplishments.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43But I feel differently about Dickie.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46I feel like he made the world a better place.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49You do everything just the way you always do it, Jack.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53When you get to the last bit, I'll be here, too.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57I don't know what life is but if there is such a thing
0:01:57 > 0:01:59as spirit or soul, I think he was one of the ones
0:01:59 > 0:02:01who had a great soul and great spirit.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04Rehearsals begin September 22nd.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07We are going to rehearse for six weeks,
0:02:07 > 0:02:12two-week out-of-town tryout, either in Boston or Philadelphia.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15The New York opening will be sometime in mid-January.
0:02:17 > 0:02:23He was somebody you wanted to please. Just inherently.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27Some directors, you are guarded but with him you were like a lapdog.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30What can I do to make it better?
0:02:30 > 0:02:33Preaching to the converted is boring, there's no point in doing that.
0:02:33 > 0:02:38I want to reach the unknowing, the uncaring and even the antagonistic.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43I do believe that no-one can be completely original.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48Everybody has, we are, in other words, links in a chain.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51He is a complete link.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56More in that direction when you eventually do it.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58I just have the feeling that I would like...
0:03:10 > 0:03:16When Richard Samuel Attenborough was born on August 29th 1923,
0:03:16 > 0:03:20the name Attenborough was not famous.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24This was a family devoted to academic and social issues.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28His father, Frederick, the son of a working-class baker,
0:03:28 > 0:03:34rose to become a Cambridge don and Principal of Leicester University.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37His mother, Mary, was at one time a suffragette,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40and a founder of the Marriage Guidance Council.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44For that period, they were a very political family,
0:03:44 > 0:03:49unquestionably, and very, very firmly fixed in that semi-idealistic,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52and I say this in the most affectionate sense,
0:03:52 > 0:03:56idealistic left of centre strand of British politics
0:03:56 > 0:03:58that emerged in 1945.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00It was the moment of their dreams.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05The Governor, as Attenborough called his father,
0:04:05 > 0:04:09wanted his son to attend Cambridge University.
0:04:09 > 0:04:10The younger boys did
0:04:10 > 0:04:14with David Attenborough becoming the world renowned naturalist
0:04:14 > 0:04:17and John forging a career in the motor industry.
0:04:18 > 0:04:23But encouraged by his mother's interest in theatre, Attenborough
0:04:23 > 0:04:27had set his heart on attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31Most parents, my parents would have said it to me,
0:04:31 > 0:04:35"Steady on, you want to be an actor?
0:04:37 > 0:04:39"Hmm, no, no."
0:04:39 > 0:04:43Although he had been utterly opposed to my wasting my time,
0:04:43 > 0:04:47as he put it, in drama, when I ought to have been preparing myself
0:04:47 > 0:04:49to go to university and so on,
0:04:49 > 0:04:55I remember very clearly playing in a sketch and my mother told me
0:04:55 > 0:04:59afterwards that when they went home that night that he said,
0:04:59 > 0:05:02"I think perhaps we'd better let Dick do what he wants to do."
0:05:04 > 0:05:08Attenborough worked hard to gain a coveted RADA scholarship
0:05:08 > 0:05:11and then at the age of 18, made his cinematic debut,
0:05:11 > 0:05:15in the Noel Coward and David Lean wartime production,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17In Which We Serve.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20Will you be requiring anything more before we close?
0:05:20 > 0:05:22Look here, Miss, judging by all I've had tonight,
0:05:22 > 0:05:24I ought to be drunk, see.
0:05:24 > 0:05:25I want to be drunk!
0:05:27 > 0:05:28I want to be drunk
0:05:28 > 0:05:30more than I've ever wanted anything in my whole life.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt where his life was headed
0:05:35 > 0:05:37and what he was going to do with it.
0:05:37 > 0:05:43He was born focused and I don't think there was ever any wavering.
0:05:43 > 0:05:48He had this all-embracing interest. He was a man of film.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57The first appearance I saw was
0:05:57 > 0:06:00In Which We Serve, Noel Coward.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05A terrified servicemen,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07naval battle -
0:06:07 > 0:06:08a beautiful performance.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13You could always believe in him.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15He never seemed, as some of them do,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18like a film person in this predicament.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21That man has been brought before me,
0:06:21 > 0:06:23charged with leaving his post without permission.
0:06:23 > 0:06:28He had that extraordinary ordinariness that some players
0:06:28 > 0:06:32manage to retain, despite becoming stars.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34After his 19th birthday,
0:06:34 > 0:06:38the young actor was required to wear a real uniform,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42seconded to the RAF film unit at Pinewood Studios
0:06:42 > 0:06:44and he was a man in love.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49He and Sheila Sim had been students together at RADA
0:06:49 > 0:06:53and in January 1945, they wed.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55Theirs was a love affair and marriage
0:06:55 > 0:06:58that would last for the rest of their lives.
0:07:00 > 0:07:06On the horizon, was the film which would transform his career,
0:07:06 > 0:07:07Brighton Rock.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14He was a little spiv, wasn't he? A little hustler.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17I remember the time in 1940, post-war years,
0:07:17 > 0:07:19I remember being scared of it,
0:07:19 > 0:07:20there was something dark
0:07:20 > 0:07:21and ominous about it.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23Maybe you wouldn't know me again when you saw me.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26Oh, I would never forget a face.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28He hit the right way
0:07:28 > 0:07:32of conveying the truth of a character
0:07:32 > 0:07:35but making it tremendously interesting.
0:07:35 > 0:07:40You asked me to make a record of my voice. Well, here it is.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44What you want me to say is, I love you.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48Here's the truth.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52I hate you, you little slut. You make me sick.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54His performance as Pinkie was dazzling.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58For somebody who was known
0:07:58 > 0:08:00for his charm,
0:08:00 > 0:08:05known for his ability to win the birds out of the trees,
0:08:05 > 0:08:08he was brilliant at the sinister.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13Don't do anything, Pinkie.
0:08:13 > 0:08:14It's all right.
0:08:16 > 0:08:17Goodbye.
0:08:21 > 0:08:22Aah!
0:08:22 > 0:08:24HE SCREAMS
0:08:24 > 0:08:26CLOCK CHIMES
0:08:27 > 0:08:30These banisters have needed mending for a long while.
0:08:31 > 0:08:36Now in his mid-20s, Richard Attenborough was a film star,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39while Sheila, a fine actor in her own right,
0:08:39 > 0:08:41made a difficult decision.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43Do you want to know why?
0:08:44 > 0:08:48She realised that Dickie was this enormous force
0:08:48 > 0:08:51and he needed the background,
0:08:51 > 0:08:52a very calm background.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54He wanted a family
0:08:54 > 0:08:55and the family home
0:08:55 > 0:08:57and she gave up her career,
0:08:57 > 0:08:59and never went back to it.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03I think Sheila, for years,
0:09:03 > 0:09:07sacrificed where she would like to be, what she would like to be doing.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11She created a kind of cocoon of security around him.
0:09:11 > 0:09:12I cannot stress this enough,
0:09:12 > 0:09:15Richard Attenborough couldn't have been Richard Attenborough
0:09:15 > 0:09:17without Sheila Attenborough.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19She was always there, always there, whatever he went,
0:09:19 > 0:09:25was always smiling and laughing and relaxed
0:09:25 > 0:09:28and I'm sure it was very, very difficult sometimes.
0:09:28 > 0:09:33It must be difficult to live with a man who is so focused and so driven.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39The couple's children, Michael, Jane and Charlotte,
0:09:39 > 0:09:41were all born in the 1950s.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46As he grew up, Attenborough's own parents had instilled in him
0:09:46 > 0:09:48the importance of family,
0:09:48 > 0:09:52and an awareness of the potential horrors of a wider world.
0:09:53 > 0:09:59In 1939, at the onset of World War II, Richard's mother, Mary,
0:09:59 > 0:10:03brought home two Jewish sisters, rescued from Nazi Germany...
0:10:05 > 0:10:08..their parents having died in a concentration camp.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12Irene and Helga remained in the care of the Attenboroughs
0:10:12 > 0:10:13until they were adults.
0:10:15 > 0:10:20For Irene and Helga, whom I adored,
0:10:20 > 0:10:22they have helped to shape my life
0:10:22 > 0:10:26and we had no hesitation in taking you into our family
0:10:26 > 0:10:32and loving and adoring you and being so proud of Ma and Pa...
0:10:34 > 0:10:38..who said that is the way to live.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40What I was struck by was that he just said
0:10:40 > 0:10:43his mother said this is the way it is going to be.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45Not because she was headstrong
0:10:45 > 0:10:47but because she was confident
0:10:47 > 0:10:49she was doing the right thing.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51It was disruptive,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54it was not something that made family life easier
0:10:54 > 0:10:58and yet how defining it became in the long run.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03For Dickie, compassion was in his DNA.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08It was not something to be sought or quested, it was in his DNA.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11I think he was brought up to put into life
0:11:11 > 0:11:14the best of what they could do.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20- My name is Paul and I am from the Argus.- Oh, yeah?
0:11:20 > 0:11:24- You didn't come out on strike, did you, Mr Curtis?- No.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28In the late 1950s, Attenborough wanted to take more control
0:11:28 > 0:11:33over his career and pursue more social realism in his film work.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38He set an independent film company with fellow actor Bryan Forbes,
0:11:38 > 0:11:39Beaver Films.
0:11:46 > 0:11:51Mainly shot on location, the films were powerfully realistic.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54Their first production, The Angry Silence,
0:11:54 > 0:11:59told of a factory worker's struggle after opposing an unofficial strike.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04He had great socialist values, I think, and I think
0:12:04 > 0:12:09when he started Beaver Films, they tried to put that into the work.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12I think they were brave and independent films.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17It was a period in his life where he could have been earning
0:12:17 > 0:12:20serious money as an actor, a character actor,
0:12:20 > 0:12:23but he chose to try to redefine, and in a sense,
0:12:23 > 0:12:27he and Brian did redefine British cinema at one point.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30And you lot, you didn't ought to talk to nobody
0:12:30 > 0:12:33because you got nothing to say!
0:12:33 > 0:12:35You're nothing!
0:12:37 > 0:12:39They always wanted to do unusual films,
0:12:39 > 0:12:41they wanted to break the mould,
0:12:41 > 0:12:43they want to shoot things in a different way.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51All the subjects were all very different...
0:12:52 > 0:12:59..and had something profound to say about the human condition.
0:12:59 > 0:13:05Seance On A Wet Afternoon gave Attenborough his first BAFTA Award,
0:13:05 > 0:13:07playing a downtrodden husband,
0:13:07 > 0:13:10persuaded by his domineering wife to kidnap a young girl.
0:13:17 > 0:13:22All his performances were always crisp and clean
0:13:22 > 0:13:26and intelligent, erm...
0:13:26 > 0:13:27as if he had a secret.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30You were always curious.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35I suppose the truth of the matter is,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38I haven't taken it in yet...
0:13:40 > 0:13:42..what we've done.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44What have we done?
0:13:44 > 0:13:47We've borrowed a child, that's what we have done.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51He also was a wily old fox in that, actually,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55the only way he could get films made really, at that period of time
0:13:55 > 0:13:57when he first started the Beaver Films thing,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00was very inexpensively because there was no money for films.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03It was quite amazing they got films made at all, really.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07I think one way you did that was to actually convince the focus puller
0:14:07 > 0:14:10that he could benefit in the profits of the film.
0:14:10 > 0:14:15So we went to Pier Angeli and Michael Craig and Guy Green
0:14:15 > 0:14:21and the costumiers, Bermans, and the lawyers and the accountants
0:14:21 > 0:14:23and we persuaded everybody to work for nothing.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26What happened nine times out of ten was they didn't take money,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29they didn't take the salary.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32I remember Brian doing films and I remember saying,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35"That's wonderful, we can now carpet that room," and he would say,
0:14:35 > 0:14:39"No, I'm not being paid, the money will come at the end," or something!
0:14:39 > 0:14:43So, our houses were mortgaged.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45I think they might have mortgaged Sheila and I
0:14:45 > 0:14:48if it had been necessary!
0:14:48 > 0:14:51Most profitable was Whistle Down The Wind,
0:14:51 > 0:14:54directed by Forbes, produced by Attenborough
0:14:54 > 0:14:56and starring Hayley Mills.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00- Go on, go on out of here!- Why should I? It's my barn as much as yours!
0:15:00 > 0:15:03Any road, I want to see my kitten.
0:15:03 > 0:15:08It was a tale of innocent children's discovery of a fugitive.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11Who's that? Who's that fella?
0:15:13 > 0:15:18It's not a fella. It's Jesus.
0:15:18 > 0:15:23Dickie Attenborough is one of the best producers I've ever worked with. Um...
0:15:23 > 0:15:26him and Walt Disney.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29Is it really him?
0:15:29 > 0:15:33He loved doing what he was doing. It was marvellous, marvellous energy.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36Oh, gentle Jesus!
0:15:40 > 0:15:44I remember we went to the premiere, none of us had got any money
0:15:44 > 0:15:46and we didn't know how it would go
0:15:46 > 0:15:50and we all waited up to get the newspapers and they were such
0:15:50 > 0:15:56great reviews and we were all dancing in the street we were so excited.
0:15:56 > 0:16:02At the age of 39, the now successful independent film-maker was
0:16:02 > 0:16:06urged to read the biography of Mahatma Gandhi.
0:16:06 > 0:16:12Struck by Gandhi's character and the struggle for independence in India,
0:16:12 > 0:16:18he was also reminded that this was a man close to his father's heart.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22As a boy, he had been taken to the cinema to see grainy newsreels
0:16:22 > 0:16:25of Gandhi's visit to Britain.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28The 1960s saw Attenborough
0:16:28 > 0:16:32set his heart on bringing Gandhi's story to the screen.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37But at the same time he was in great demand as an actor internationally.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43He appeared in the cinema classic The Great Escape.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46We'll close down Dick and Harry, seal them off.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50Put the entire effort into Tom and press right on into the trees.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52My pleasure.
0:16:52 > 0:17:00Open your eyes, what do you see, this thing's a miracle for you and me!
0:17:01 > 0:17:05And won a Golden Globe for his performance
0:17:05 > 0:17:08in the musical Doctor Doolittle.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12# Within a meagre month I've seen my wildest dreams come true
0:17:12 > 0:17:15# Cos I've never seen anything like it, nor have you! #
0:17:15 > 0:17:18Hey, hey. Relax, huh?
0:17:18 > 0:17:22But his first Golden Globe came for another film with Steve McQueen,
0:17:22 > 0:17:27The Sand Pebbles, which also starred Candice Bergen.
0:17:29 > 0:17:35CANDICE BERGEN: Dickie and I met in Taiwan in 1965.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37Hi.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43She's a schoolteacher. I met her on a steamer.
0:17:43 > 0:17:49And thank God that Dickie was there because he was, of course,
0:17:49 > 0:17:54the most buoyant energy but it was a very long location.
0:17:54 > 0:18:02And, um, that was when he started speaking
0:18:02 > 0:18:04to me about Gandhi.
0:18:04 > 0:18:09He asked me about playing Margaret Bourke-White in Taipei.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12And I was thrilled to play it.
0:18:12 > 0:18:18I just didn't realise it would be such a long time.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22In 1968, he appeared in The Bliss Of Mrs Blossom,
0:18:22 > 0:18:26a comedy starring another of Hollywood's leading actresses.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33Bravo, Robert. Bravo. You were magnificent tonight!
0:18:33 > 0:18:37The first time I worked with him was Bliss Of Mrs Blossom. Bliss.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39Darling. Funny.
0:18:39 > 0:18:44We played husband and wife with my lover stashed in the attic.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48- Darling, Harriet!- Coming!
0:18:48 > 0:18:51To tell you the truth,
0:18:51 > 0:18:56most of our interspersed off-screen time
0:18:56 > 0:19:00was discussing Gandhi.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05I dream of a lifetime about to come true.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07Yes, dear.
0:19:07 > 0:19:12'And he talked about this with such passion and understanding'
0:19:12 > 0:19:14and knowledge and what it meant
0:19:14 > 0:19:18and, of course, he was involved with Gandhi's point of view.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22Also very involved with the passive resistance,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25discussed the Salt March like he had been on it.
0:19:25 > 0:19:30I just have the feeling that I would like more in that direction
0:19:30 > 0:19:31when you eventually do it.
0:19:31 > 0:19:36Attenborough was spending so much money developing Gandhi that as the
0:19:36 > 0:19:41'60s turned to the '70s, he said he could barely pay the gas bill.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45He couldn't have known it but he would first direct four other films
0:19:45 > 0:19:50including Young Winston, though his directing career began unexpectedly.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55One night Johnny Mills rung me up and said,
0:19:55 > 0:20:00"Dick, I've got a subject which Len Deighton and I have been working
0:20:00 > 0:20:06"on which we would like you to read to see if you would like to direct it.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09"It's called Oh! What A Lovely War."
0:20:09 > 0:20:12Dickie called him up the next morning and said, "I think
0:20:12 > 0:20:14"it's marvellous.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18"A couple of ideas but actually I think it's marvellous."
0:20:18 > 0:20:21I said, "Johnny, I am thrilled, I would adore to do it
0:20:21 > 0:20:23"but why did you ask me?"
0:20:23 > 0:20:26And he said, "Well, I have to be absolutely honest,
0:20:26 > 0:20:31"we decided we either ought to have a director who knew everything
0:20:31 > 0:20:36"or one who knew absolutely nothing and that's why we came to you!"
0:20:36 > 0:20:41And the rest is history and it was absolutely brilliant.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44He was a brilliant director.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46Right, nice smile for everybody.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54Austrian Archduke assassinated.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59And I remember going to see it, the most incredible achievement
0:20:59 > 0:21:03that Dickie did on that film was the cast he put together.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05To be able to pick up the phone
0:21:05 > 0:21:09and get every single great actor in this country to turn up to do
0:21:09 > 0:21:14a day's work for very little money and a sandwich and a glass of wine.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17Only Dickie could have ever done that.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19Happy days, really.
0:21:19 > 0:21:24There was a jollity about everybody gathering in Brighton
0:21:24 > 0:21:27in seaside hotels on the front
0:21:27 > 0:21:34and I suppose behind it all was the vigour of Dickie's
0:21:34 > 0:21:39determination to make the film and to give everyone a good time making it.
0:21:41 > 0:21:47Oh! What A Lovely War was a musical about the brutality of World War I.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51And the first-time director displayed a daringly
0:21:51 > 0:21:53modernist vision.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00It was a brilliant adaptation of the stage play with the music and
0:22:00 > 0:22:05the merry-go-round and fairground and the soldiers coming and going.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08If we continue in this way,
0:22:08 > 0:22:12the line of trenches will stretch from Switzerland to the sea.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16Neither we nor the Germans will be able to break through,
0:22:16 > 0:22:19- the war will end in complete stalemate.- Nonsense!
0:22:19 > 0:22:23We need only one more big offensive to break through and win.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25My troops are of fine quality
0:22:25 > 0:22:28and especially trained for this type of war.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30This is not war, sir. It is slaughter.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33I think he absolutely fell in love with it.
0:22:33 > 0:22:39He couldn't believe how much he loved the directing process.
0:22:39 > 0:22:45He was always engaged with you.
0:22:45 > 0:22:50Come closer to camera as you come. As close as you can.
0:22:50 > 0:22:55I think a lot of that came from his great understanding
0:22:55 > 0:23:00of many, many years of being on the other side of the camera.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07- ALAN PARKER:- It's about something really important
0:23:07 > 0:23:12and his best films always were when he had something to say.
0:23:17 > 0:23:24- JULIET MILLS:- It had a profound impact about the waste
0:23:24 > 0:23:28and futility of war.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31Poetic and poignant,
0:23:31 > 0:23:36the final scene slowly reveals 15,000 crosses on the hillside.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39In an age before computer graphics,
0:23:39 > 0:23:44every cross was planted by hand and the little girl who appears is
0:23:44 > 0:23:48Attenborough's youngest daughter, Charlotte.
0:23:48 > 0:23:55Granny... Granny, what did Daddy do in the war?
0:23:58 > 0:24:03But I think to show those headstones
0:24:03 > 0:24:07and actually what it was,
0:24:07 > 0:24:11what the upshot of it was, was right.
0:24:11 > 0:24:16That is very much Richard showing what is really human,
0:24:16 > 0:24:19really deeply human.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23- DAVID PUTTNAM:- However finite what you are saying and showing seems,
0:24:23 > 0:24:28there is a child and a child represents hope and hope represents continuity.
0:24:28 > 0:24:33Strangely enough, I think that's very much the way Richard saw life.
0:24:33 > 0:24:39I think he saw it as very difficult, very tough but ultimately hopeful.
0:24:40 > 0:24:45Attenborough the director had triumphed.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49And was about triumph as an actor again.
0:24:49 > 0:24:56Lean right back, shut your eyes, that's it. Shut your eyes.
0:24:56 > 0:25:03In the 1971 film 10 Rillington Place, he gives one of his most chilling performances...
0:25:03 > 0:25:07It smells a bit funny, Mr Christie.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11..alongside a fledgling co-star.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15- JOHN HURT:- It was very exciting to be able to do it, yes.
0:25:15 > 0:25:22You know, it was in the beginning, really of my film career.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26- It's not a bad district, is it? - It's not bad.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31The film portrays one of Britain's most notorious
0:25:31 > 0:25:33miscarriages of justice.
0:25:33 > 0:25:39- Yes?- We've...- We've um... Come about the flat.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43How Timothy Evans would lose his family and be hanged for crimes
0:25:43 > 0:25:49committed by real-life serial killer John Reginald Christie.
0:25:51 > 0:25:56Richard's style basically throughout the whole of this was
0:25:56 > 0:25:58enormously secretive.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02- IMPERSONATES ATTENBOROUGH AS CHRISTIE:- Very north country.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06Just sort of in a way that was acceptable in the south
0:26:06 > 0:26:08at that time.
0:26:08 > 0:26:13There is another couple, very keen - Irish, as a matter of fact.
0:26:13 > 0:26:19- No, we'll take it. - Well, you are doing the right thing.
0:26:19 > 0:26:20It was very dark.
0:26:20 > 0:26:26I mean, for him to inhabit that man and because we were living it,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29there was the street.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33Exteriors were filmed in the real Rillington Place.
0:26:33 > 0:26:38Now, you and Teddy have a nice sleep. There's a good girl.
0:26:38 > 0:26:43I would also suspect that he knew it was a damn good role.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47Huh!
0:26:47 > 0:26:50- Ooh... Mr Christie. - I thought you might like a...
0:26:50 > 0:26:55- You did make me jump. - ..a little cup of tea.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59- Well, I've just had one, actually. - Well, that's all right.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02'We were about to do the scene where he's going to kill me
0:27:02 > 0:27:05'and he was not looking forward to it at all.'
0:27:05 > 0:27:09And he said to me, "Oh, ducks..." which he always called me,
0:27:09 > 0:27:14he said, "You are so lucky, you don't get so nervous," and I said,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17"Dickie, do you get nervous?" and he said, "Yes, always."
0:27:17 > 0:27:21I had to start an hour, an hour-and-a-half,
0:27:21 > 0:27:27before shooting which happened in large measure in the make-up chair.
0:27:27 > 0:27:28I didn't talk.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32I simply attempted to bring an absolute narrowing
0:27:32 > 0:27:37of concentration into this moment of able to experience
0:27:37 > 0:27:42the feelings and thoughts of this particular man.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46You've had gas before at the dentist, have you?
0:27:46 > 0:27:48You know what it feels like, then.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50He was brilliant at the sinister.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53Absolutely brilliant.
0:27:53 > 0:27:59And he managed to be able to touch it just enough and leave it.
0:28:01 > 0:28:07- Hello, Mr Christie. - It's bad news, Tim.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11And the sentence of the court upon you is that you be
0:28:11 > 0:28:15taken from this place to a lawful prison, and thence to
0:28:15 > 0:28:20a place of execution and there you will suffer death by hanging.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23It was probably the film that made me
0:28:23 > 0:28:28completely absolute politically in terms of capital punishment.
0:28:30 > 0:28:36And it was the wrongful conviction that drew Attenborough to the role.
0:28:36 > 0:28:42'I suspect he was always interested in the dark side of humanity.'
0:28:42 > 0:28:48The unfair distribution of kindness.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00In 1976, Richard Attenborough was awarded a knighthood.
0:29:00 > 0:29:05I don't think it was in my mind at all and I suppose rather strange.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09When I came in just now and you said, "Good afternoon, Sir Richard,"
0:29:09 > 0:29:12it does sound very strange indeed.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15I suppose one will get used to it!
0:29:15 > 0:29:20It was a moment neither of his parents had lived to see.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24More than a decade earlier, his mother Mary was killed
0:29:24 > 0:29:30in a car crash and in 1973 his father, Fred, died at the age of 85.
0:29:32 > 0:29:37For 15 years now, Sir Richard Attenborough had been trying
0:29:37 > 0:29:39to finance the film of Gandhi.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43In the late 1970s, he teamed up with American impresario
0:29:43 > 0:29:49Joe Levine whom he hoped might hold the keys to all the right doors.
0:29:49 > 0:29:56But first, Levine wanted him to direct another ambitious film.
0:29:56 > 0:30:02He did A Bridge Too Far on the basis that Joe would go with Gandhi.
0:30:04 > 0:30:10A Bridge Too Far centred on World War II's Operation Market Garden -
0:30:10 > 0:30:13Allied soldiers attempts to capture key bridges
0:30:13 > 0:30:16behind German lines.
0:30:16 > 0:30:22In every sense, it was an epic, not least, for the stellar cast.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27- Morning, Derek.- Morning, sir.
0:30:27 > 0:30:29Glad to see somebody knows where we are going.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40I think he demystified the skill of the director,
0:30:40 > 0:30:43he didn't complicate it, he didn't make a big deal about it.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47He shot it...and moved on.
0:30:47 > 0:30:49- Something just occurred to me. - What's that, sir?
0:30:49 > 0:30:52You're wearing the wrong camouflage. It's all very well for the country,
0:30:52 > 0:30:55but I doubt very much if it's going to fool anyone in the towns.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58Come on, come on.
0:30:58 > 0:30:59'Oh, and nothing fazed him at all.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02'You got to do your homework and that's what he expected
0:31:02 > 0:31:04'and he came from that school - do your homework.
0:31:04 > 0:31:06'Show up, get on with it.'
0:31:06 > 0:31:12And that's where... Richard was tenacious and powerful.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15- Many of them?- Can't tell, sir. I can only hear them at the moment.
0:31:15 > 0:31:17'And I liked that about him.
0:31:17 > 0:31:19'He was charming, but I could see through him.'
0:31:19 > 0:31:22I said, "You're just foxy, aren't you?" He said, "What did you say?"
0:31:22 > 0:31:26I said, "You are just an old fox, aren't you?" He said, "Oh, yes."
0:31:26 > 0:31:29- Look after that man. - Open fire! Fire!
0:31:36 > 0:31:38HE SHOUTS IN GERMAN
0:31:38 > 0:31:40TYRES SCREECH
0:31:44 > 0:31:46- Hello, Harry.- Hello, Johnny.
0:31:46 > 0:31:53A Bridge Too Far was a tribute to people he knew,
0:31:53 > 0:31:56people he knew during the war.
0:31:56 > 0:31:59He actually had a very clear understanding of sacrifice.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04How short are we? A mile?
0:32:05 > 0:32:11The whole enterprise of the film was so worthwhile,
0:32:11 > 0:32:18had such a point and an importance to it that all those actors will
0:32:18 > 0:32:25have done it for that reason and for Richard, really, for his enterprise.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32For Attenborough's next venture, one of those actors had to learn
0:32:32 > 0:32:37new skills as a ventriloquist in the thriller Magic.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42- Hey, you know what I think? - No, what do you think?
0:32:43 > 0:32:47We're going to be a star!
0:32:47 > 0:32:49Richard never bothered me, never wanted to test me,
0:32:49 > 0:32:52but one day he said, "How are you getting on with
0:32:52 > 0:32:55"the ventriloquism?" And suddenly I started doing the voice of Fats.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58- I don't think you are very funny. - Well, they do.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02- AUDIENCE LAUGHS - Thank you.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05You know, I worked very hard to get it right, the ventriloquism, and the
0:33:05 > 0:33:10magic, and he left me alone, he just trusted that I would do my homework,
0:33:10 > 0:33:16he doesn't...hamper you like some directors - "You going to do this? You going to do that?"
0:33:16 > 0:33:19He said, you're an actor, that's what you have to do.
0:33:21 > 0:33:22Was you thinking about her?
0:33:28 > 0:33:33But if trust was broken, there was another side to Attenborough.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37And I remember someone who was consistently late, winching...
0:33:37 > 0:33:41He said, "I don't know what I've got to do in this scene."
0:33:41 > 0:33:44He said, "But, darling, you're the actor, that's your contract.
0:33:44 > 0:33:46"You signed it, so that's up to you.
0:33:46 > 0:33:51"No, no, I don't know how to direct you, because this is your job...
0:33:51 > 0:33:53"But as you can't do it..."
0:33:54 > 0:33:56"..bye-bye."
0:33:59 > 0:34:02By 1980, Gandhi was closer to becoming a reality,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06though the financing was still precarious.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14He had mortgaged, sold, borrowed money,
0:34:14 > 0:34:19whatever he could do...on his house, on his children, everything
0:34:19 > 0:34:23he could do to raise the money to make the movie, he did it.
0:34:23 > 0:34:30It's just a saga of such size and he never lost faith
0:34:30 > 0:34:32and he never gave up.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35Furthermore, he faced prejudice and ignorance.
0:34:36 > 0:34:41The common wisdom in Hollywood was you wouldn't want to make
0:34:41 > 0:34:46such a picture because nobody under 40 had ever heard of Gandhi.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50Even those who revered Gandhi had reservations.
0:34:50 > 0:34:54There were questions in the Indian Parliament about the making
0:34:54 > 0:34:56of the film.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00One MP insisted that Gandhi should never be seen on screen,
0:35:00 > 0:35:03he should be a moving light...
0:35:05 > 0:35:08..to which Dickie responded, "I'm not filming bloody Tinkerbell."
0:35:10 > 0:35:14Then there was the question of casting the leading actor.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19Hello! I'm looking for Mr Gandhi.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23Believe it or not, it's in his book somewhere,
0:35:23 > 0:35:25he asked me to play Gandhi.
0:35:25 > 0:35:30I mean, he did test me for Gandhi, we saw each other in Los Angeles.
0:35:30 > 0:35:32Me, Gandhi?
0:35:32 > 0:35:36I was very wary of the fact that I was distinctly Caucasian.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38My father asked me, "Gandhi?
0:35:38 > 0:35:40"Who's going to play Pandit Nehru, Harry Secombe?"
0:35:40 > 0:35:42He said, "A comedy, is it?"
0:35:42 > 0:35:44It was Attenborough's son, Michael,
0:35:44 > 0:35:48who suggested a relatively unknown theatre actor.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52I tend to keep my eyes closed during make-up,
0:35:52 > 0:35:55so that when I open my eyes and hopefully see someone else.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01And I opened my eyes and looked in the mirror and there he was.
0:36:01 > 0:36:05Richard walked into the room, looked at me,
0:36:05 > 0:36:12collapsed into an armchair and for a little while looked...defeated,
0:36:12 > 0:36:14but I realised it wasn't defeat,
0:36:14 > 0:36:21it was that strange exhaustion of reaching the top of a mountain,
0:36:21 > 0:36:26or one mountain in a range of mountains...and he just looked
0:36:26 > 0:36:31at me and said in a rather quiet voice, "Ben, I want you to do it."
0:36:31 > 0:36:34In those few seconds he entrusted me
0:36:34 > 0:36:38with 20 years of hard labour on his part.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42The filming of the life of Mahatma Gandhi finally
0:36:42 > 0:36:44began at the end of 1980.
0:36:46 > 0:36:49Attenborough still had mountains to climb,
0:36:49 > 0:36:51as areas of investment failed.
0:36:52 > 0:36:58When I arrived in Bombay, he would shoot all day.
0:36:58 > 0:36:59That's it.
0:37:01 > 0:37:07And then at night, he would go out and have dinner with people...
0:37:07 > 0:37:08from whom we hoped to raise money.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13Action! Go, action. Move, move!
0:37:13 > 0:37:17It was exhausting because it was such a huge movie in every way.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21Almost every scene involved many, many extras
0:37:21 > 0:37:24and the weight of the subject matter.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28And he was really spent.
0:37:28 > 0:37:29Keep moving.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36Attenborough never let money troubles affect the set
0:37:36 > 0:37:38or his actors.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42Every day was new, every day was fresh.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46What he brought to the film set was a joyous passion in telling
0:37:46 > 0:37:51one of the most beautiful stories that history has ever produced
0:37:51 > 0:37:53'for us to tell each other now.'
0:37:53 > 0:37:56- We'll go.- Long live!- Gandhiji!
0:37:56 > 0:37:58- Long live!- Gandhiji!
0:37:58 > 0:38:00- Long live!- Gandhiji!
0:38:00 > 0:38:01Long live...!
0:38:01 > 0:38:03'And it was like a military campaign,
0:38:03 > 0:38:05'particularly something like the funeral that we shot'
0:38:05 > 0:38:09on the anniversary of Gandhi's real funeral, which was probably
0:38:09 > 0:38:11the single most extraordinary day of my life, actually.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16We had been advertising in the villages and on television
0:38:16 > 0:38:21and on radio - "Please come and help us re-enact the funeral
0:38:21 > 0:38:23"of Mahatma Gandhi."
0:38:23 > 0:38:26When the massive crowd turned up, it was staggering.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29What did I ask for? I asked for the road to be blocked.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32What they haven't done is they've let people come in.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35So I want the road blocked and I want all these people...
0:38:35 > 0:38:38- LOUD-HAILER BLOCKS OUT SOUND - ..Will you do that straightaway, please?
0:38:38 > 0:38:41You'll need to feel that you can hold on to something.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45Out. Round, round and out.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51It was like an aeroplane going to a locus and we were banging,
0:38:51 > 0:38:56people were banging into the car and I said to...the second aid,
0:38:56 > 0:38:59who had very discreetly got me onto the funeral carriage,
0:38:59 > 0:39:01on which I lay for seven hours without moving,
0:39:01 > 0:39:05"How many people here?" He said, "This end, about 40,000.
0:39:05 > 0:39:07"How many people altogether? I think 400,000."
0:39:09 > 0:39:13It was the biggest movie crowd in history.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22As filming ended, another challenge lay ahead.
0:39:22 > 0:39:27Rather than try to go out in the marketplace quickly,
0:39:27 > 0:39:30we wanted a year to work on it.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34We had to educate the public on who Gandhi was.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38We got out booklets to teach in the schools.
0:39:38 > 0:39:43We put a bulletin board up and we said, "A world event."
0:39:45 > 0:39:50Now, what made it a world event? We said it was a world event.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55- Richard Attenborough for Gandhi. - CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:39:55 > 0:39:59The world event won five BAFTAs
0:39:59 > 0:40:03and was up against ET and Tootsie at the 1983 Academy Awards.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06It was nominated for 11 Oscars.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10Have you heard the news?
0:40:12 > 0:40:13Well, we won eight.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17LAUGHTER "Bleedin' hell, eight!"
0:40:17 > 0:40:18I was there, I was there with him
0:40:18 > 0:40:21the night that he won the eight Oscars,
0:40:21 > 0:40:22it was a pretty amazing event.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25I've never seen a man happier in my life.
0:40:25 > 0:40:26I mean, you know,
0:40:26 > 0:40:29to have this around two Oscars is not bad.
0:40:29 > 0:40:31So, doesn't happen to many people.
0:40:31 > 0:40:33If Gandhi had been a failure,
0:40:33 > 0:40:37Richard would have been bankrupt, there was no doubt about it.
0:40:37 > 0:40:42Knowing Dickie, I should think after the Oscars and he was on the
0:40:42 > 0:40:46plane home, he was thinking of the next thing that he wanted to do.
0:40:46 > 0:40:47'Again.'
0:40:47 > 0:40:52And the next thing he wanted to do was a surprise departure.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54Left, right, point two, back point.
0:40:54 > 0:40:5814, left, right, up, down, ooh, ooh. And through.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02One, two, turn, turn, and up. 14. Left, right, lead front...
0:41:02 > 0:41:07'I don't know that it was the right film for him to do, I think that...'
0:41:07 > 0:41:10To tell you the truth, I think that, you know, after Gandhi he was
0:41:10 > 0:41:14the hottest thing around, you know, because everybody loved every...
0:41:14 > 0:41:18He must have made about 50 speeches and they are all brilliant,
0:41:18 > 0:41:21so he was pretty hot and he got the hottest project around at that
0:41:21 > 0:41:24moment in time, which was A Chorus Line.
0:41:24 > 0:41:26# Move on
0:41:26 > 0:41:29OK, hold it, hold it. Let's go on, away from the mirror.
0:41:29 > 0:41:30'It was tough.'
0:41:30 > 0:41:34Needless to say, I don't think A Chorus Line was the high point
0:41:34 > 0:41:38for either mine or Lord Dickie's careers.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41- One, two, three, four, five. - OK, listen up.
0:41:41 > 0:41:43Larry's got the exact style I'm looking for, very '30s.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46Everybody, just keep your eye on Larry.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49Let's continue now from Moment In Her Presence. And...
0:41:49 > 0:41:54The musical A Chorus Line was released in 1985.
0:41:54 > 0:41:59Many had tried to bring the successful stage show to the screen.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03Critics were surprised it was an Englishman directing such
0:42:03 > 0:42:05an American story.
0:42:05 > 0:42:10'I think you had to be very brave to undertake it...in the end...'
0:42:10 > 0:42:16But knowing the struggles after Gandhi, knowing the complete
0:42:16 > 0:42:20and incredible struggles he had to get that picture made,
0:42:20 > 0:42:24there was a part of him, I think, that enjoyed...
0:42:24 > 0:42:29He had passion, you know, he had passion and he had tenacity
0:42:29 > 0:42:34and he'd like to fly without a net once in a while.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37# She's the one
0:42:38 > 0:42:40# One
0:42:40 > 0:42:41# One
0:42:41 > 0:42:42# One. #
0:42:42 > 0:42:49'Nobody came out of it as far as the talent, even including me,'
0:42:49 > 0:42:53nobody came out of it as a star, but it was a wonderful,
0:42:53 > 0:43:00wonderful opportunity to get to know well a magnificent man.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06I went to visit him, in New York.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09I was in New York working, and he was making A Chorus Line.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12And we had lunch together, Sheila was there.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16And we were talking about, this was happening at this particular
0:43:16 > 0:43:21point of his life, and he suddenly said to me, "Putts, Putts...
0:43:21 > 0:43:24"I would give ANYTHING to be your age."
0:43:24 > 0:43:27"What's the difference with our ages?" He said, "A dozen years."
0:43:27 > 0:43:32"..Anything to be your age, the energy I would have had," he said.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36"Dammit, it all came too late."
0:43:36 > 0:43:39DOGS BARKING
0:43:39 > 0:43:44We have reason to believe you are in possession of subversive documents.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47We have orders to search these premises.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51In 1987, the 64-year-old Attenborough
0:43:51 > 0:43:55turned his attention to the appalling truth of racial
0:43:55 > 0:43:59segregation in South Africa's apartheid era.
0:43:59 > 0:44:01Donald, there after Evelyn.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04Cry Freedom told the story of intimidation
0:44:04 > 0:44:07suffered by journalist Donald Woods and his family.
0:44:07 > 0:44:11Forced to flee the country after reporting on the death
0:44:11 > 0:44:14in police custody of Steve Biko.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17You are forbidden to write anything,
0:44:17 > 0:44:20whether privately or for publication.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23You are forbidden to enter any printing or publishing premises
0:44:23 > 0:44:25of any kind.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28And are restricted for that five years
0:44:28 > 0:44:32to the magisterial district of East London.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36Attenborough experienced threats himself in South Africa
0:44:36 > 0:44:39and moved to filming to Zimbabwe.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42We had to provide day and night security for him.
0:44:44 > 0:44:48- They follow you everywhere. - They think they do.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52The Special Branch in South Africa would have stopped at nothing
0:44:52 > 0:44:54to stop the movie
0:44:54 > 0:44:57and the way to stop the movie was to stop Richard Attenborough
0:44:57 > 0:45:00and a bullet would be the way to do it.
0:45:00 > 0:45:02We may hate the bastards that run this country
0:45:02 > 0:45:05but this is still our home.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08What do you want to do? Just accept Steve's death?
0:45:08 > 0:45:11Accept what this government's doing, is going to go on doing?!
0:45:11 > 0:45:14But he was so single-minded, you see.
0:45:14 > 0:45:16Once he'd got it into his head,
0:45:16 > 0:45:18"This is the film I'm making,"
0:45:18 > 0:45:21nothing would have put him off that.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25- ALAN PARKER:- He was the only one doing that kind of story -
0:45:25 > 0:45:28you know, he made a film about apartheid
0:45:28 > 0:45:30in the Hollywood system,
0:45:30 > 0:45:34which I think which I think is just an enormously
0:45:34 > 0:45:37incredible achievement. It's very easy to say now
0:45:37 > 0:45:39because so many films have been made since.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43But when you're the first, you know, it's not that easy.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46And I think he did incredibly to get the film made in the first place.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49'But you, a black child -
0:45:49 > 0:45:54'smart or dumb, you are born into this.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57'And smart or dumb...
0:45:57 > 0:45:59'you'll die in it.'
0:46:01 > 0:46:05The film showed his great power as a film-maker.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13But the work Attenborough considered his best
0:46:13 > 0:46:16was a smaller, more emotional piece
0:46:16 > 0:46:18set in the English countryside.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22The thing that Dickie did so wonderfully with Shadowlands
0:46:22 > 0:46:25was first of all he cast wonderfully.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29He really understood that he needed somebody who had that
0:46:29 > 0:46:32quality of restraint - repression if you like,
0:46:32 > 0:46:35of things happening beneath the surface.
0:46:35 > 0:46:39I'm a little in awe of you and so I'm a little tense.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42And when I get like that I get kind of...
0:46:42 > 0:46:44I don't know...
0:46:44 > 0:46:46It's very childish, I'm sure I'll get over it soon.
0:46:46 > 0:46:51Not too soon, I hope, please. Because I like a good fight myself.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55Shadowlands was the true story of author CS Lewis
0:46:55 > 0:46:58and poet Joy Davidman,
0:46:58 > 0:47:02their four-year marriage and her early death from cancer.
0:47:02 > 0:47:06It was Attenborough's most triumphantly intimate work.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08It was one of the few films
0:47:08 > 0:47:11that I felt sad at the end of every day.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14Because I never got to say those words again.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18- You do everything just the way you always do it, Jack.- Mmm.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22When you get to the last bit... I'll be here too.
0:47:22 > 0:47:27I will of course always personally remember him
0:47:27 > 0:47:31in sobs on the set of Shadowlands!
0:47:31 > 0:47:34Because it did rather make us laugh,
0:47:34 > 0:47:41he literally was in floods at the end of practically every take.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43We were doing the scene and sometimes they said,
0:47:43 > 0:47:47"We'll have to cut because we can hear the director crying."
0:47:47 > 0:47:49And I used to laugh at him, I said, "You're such a crybaby."
0:47:49 > 0:47:51He said, "Why are you so hard? You have no heart.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53I said, "No, I don't."
0:47:53 > 0:47:55I said, "Why do you cry all the time?"
0:47:55 > 0:47:58He said, "Because it affects me. But you're such a cold fish."
0:47:58 > 0:48:01I said, "Yes." He said, "For a Welshman that's disgraceful."
0:48:01 > 0:48:04I said, "Well, that's what I am, I'm pretty heartless."
0:48:06 > 0:48:10'I remember we were filming the very last scene, in Oxford,
0:48:10 > 0:48:13'in Magdalene College I think it was.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17'I'm looking out the window and I say a line about being a boy...'
0:48:18 > 0:48:21Twice in that life, I've been given the choice...
0:48:21 > 0:48:23And I AM pretty tough.
0:48:23 > 0:48:27I don't cry. I don't like sentiment, I can't stand it.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30And as a man,
0:48:30 > 0:48:32the boy chose safety,
0:48:32 > 0:48:35the man chooses suffering.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38'And as I started the line, I broke down.'
0:48:39 > 0:48:43I just broke up, I couldn't speak.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46I choked up, and I don't know why.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48And Attenborough said, "I got you!"
0:48:48 > 0:48:51"Got you! You DO have a heart."
0:48:56 > 0:49:00After a 14-year gap,
0:49:00 > 0:49:04the director was lured back to acting by an ardent fan,
0:49:04 > 0:49:06Steven Spielberg.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12Welcome...to Jurassic Park.
0:49:12 > 0:49:17His performance introduced him to a new generation.
0:49:17 > 0:49:21Followed by a role that endeared him to millions more,
0:49:21 > 0:49:25in Miracle On 34th Street.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27He was a great Kris Kringle.
0:49:27 > 0:49:31He was the closest, just his persona, to BEING Santa Claus.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35I mean, he had a cheeriness in those eyes...
0:49:35 > 0:49:37Merry Christmas to YOU, Bryan.
0:49:40 > 0:49:45In 1993, he was made a life peer.
0:49:45 > 0:49:50I, Lord Richard Attenborough, do swear by Almighty God...
0:49:50 > 0:49:54Lord Attenborough of Richmond upon Thames
0:49:54 > 0:49:58was more than a successful actor, producer and director -
0:49:58 > 0:50:01he was a tireless charitable campaigner.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04- NEWS ARCHIVE:- Arriving at Downing Street this morning
0:50:04 > 0:50:07was the President of the Muscular Dystrophy Group, Lord Attenborough.
0:50:07 > 0:50:09He handed in a petition of 100,000 signatures
0:50:09 > 0:50:12calling on the Prime Minister to give equal treatment
0:50:12 > 0:50:14to severely disabled people across the UK.
0:50:14 > 0:50:19I went to a Variety Club luncheon, my father was making a speech
0:50:19 > 0:50:25about Dickie. And he proceeded to read out a list of positions.
0:50:25 > 0:50:31President this, and chairman of that, founding member of this -
0:50:31 > 0:50:34and it went on and on and on.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37Because if he COULD help, he WOULD help. And he DID help.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41And he helped one hell of a lot of people in his time.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45He used his influence and experience
0:50:45 > 0:50:49to advance the film industry and broadcasting,
0:50:49 > 0:50:53with patronage of the National Film and Television School,
0:50:53 > 0:50:59the BFI, RADA, BAFTA, Capital Radio and Channel 4.
0:50:59 > 0:51:01BAFTA would not exist today
0:51:01 > 0:51:06had it not been for him bailing it out when it was in deep crisis.
0:51:06 > 0:51:09BFI would have been a very difficult body.
0:51:09 > 0:51:11Film School would have been a different body.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17I'm interested obviously mostly in the arts in general,
0:51:17 > 0:51:23and in cinema and media, including television, video and so on.
0:51:24 > 0:51:28I have absolutely no doubt
0:51:28 > 0:51:31that without Richard Attenborough,
0:51:31 > 0:51:33right now at this moment in time
0:51:33 > 0:51:35there would BE no British film industry.
0:51:35 > 0:51:37He was that important.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40But what could be described as his greatest personal achievement
0:51:40 > 0:51:42was shared with Sheila.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46They spent more than seven happy decades together -
0:51:46 > 0:51:48a tight family unit.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51- EAMONN ANDREWS:- Your children, Michael and Jane!
0:51:52 > 0:51:55He's sorry Charlotte couldn't be here,
0:51:55 > 0:51:58but we thought was a bit late for her to stay up.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01- ANTHONY HOPKINS:- They were very much alike.
0:52:01 > 0:52:03Quiet, very English.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05Very English.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09Very calm... It was like being back in the '50s, being with them.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14- SHIRLEY MACLAINE:- It gave you hope for monogamy,
0:52:14 > 0:52:17it gave you hope for longevity in marriage.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22They supported one another, they were...
0:52:22 > 0:52:26so lovingly involved with the
0:52:26 > 0:52:29everyday-ness of life. Yeah.
0:52:31 > 0:52:36Sometimes we make more of an effort being nice to strangers
0:52:36 > 0:52:39than we do to the person closest to us,
0:52:39 > 0:52:43and I think Sheila and Dickie
0:52:43 > 0:52:46always recognised the fact out of having
0:52:46 > 0:52:49tremendous mutual respect for each other,
0:52:49 > 0:52:53and never taking the other one for granted.
0:52:53 > 0:52:54That's what it was like,
0:52:54 > 0:53:00a peaceful summer Sunday afternoon in Chertsey or somewhere like that.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04Or like a John Betjeman poem. That's what they were like.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07Like a little John Betjeman poem.
0:53:15 > 0:53:17Attenborough didn't believe in retirement.
0:53:17 > 0:53:21Always forward-looking, he directed Closing The Ring
0:53:21 > 0:53:23at the age of 83.
0:53:24 > 0:53:29- You don't smoke?- I thought I'd take it up again.
0:53:29 > 0:53:35The film dealt with loss, and it would turn out to be his last.
0:53:35 > 0:53:39- You won't forget to do something for me, will you, Ethel?- What's that?
0:53:39 > 0:53:40Grieve?
0:53:40 > 0:53:45And Richard Attenborough was a man in grief himself,
0:53:45 > 0:53:49having suffered a terrible family tragedy.
0:53:49 > 0:53:54His daughter Jane, aged 49, and her daughter Lucy, 15,
0:53:54 > 0:53:59had been swept away in the 2004 Asian tsunami
0:53:59 > 0:54:01while on holiday in Thailand.
0:54:03 > 0:54:10He was really dealing with the, erm...
0:54:10 > 0:54:13grieving process at the same time he was being creative.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17And we talked about death, and we talked about what does that mean
0:54:17 > 0:54:23and that was paramount in his mind, how to deal with that loss.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30Death will be no more.
0:54:31 > 0:54:35Mourning, and crying,
0:54:35 > 0:54:39and pain will be no more.
0:54:41 > 0:54:46For the first things have passed away.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50And there was nothing to say. It's the most...
0:54:50 > 0:54:54It's incomprehensible, the grief and the awfulness
0:54:54 > 0:54:59of a situation like that. And, erm...
0:54:59 > 0:55:04they very, very rarely spoke about it afterwards. It was too enormous.
0:55:05 > 0:55:08In 2008, Richard Attenborough suffered a severe fall
0:55:08 > 0:55:12caused by a stroke. His health then declined.
0:55:13 > 0:55:18In 2012, he joined Sheila at Denville Hall,
0:55:18 > 0:55:20a care home for actors,
0:55:20 > 0:55:24and a place which they had both supported over decades.
0:55:27 > 0:55:33I last saw him and Sheila together a few months ago.
0:55:35 > 0:55:41And Sheila was basically Richard's voice, because his vocabulary
0:55:41 > 0:55:46and his ability to speak was very, very, very limited.
0:55:46 > 0:55:48So, erm...
0:55:48 > 0:55:52it was, it was the same relationship.
0:55:52 > 0:55:56The roles had just modulated into,
0:55:56 > 0:55:57erm...
0:55:57 > 0:56:01something equally expressive,
0:56:01 > 0:56:05very loving, and jolly.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11Just devoted. The word is "devoted", and it's absolutely the right word.
0:56:11 > 0:56:13Erm...
0:56:13 > 0:56:14And seeing them together at Denville,
0:56:14 > 0:56:18just sitting on... You know, Sheila sitting on Dick's bed.
0:56:18 > 0:56:23Just...amazing, and wonderful and totally inspirational.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28In fact, one of the last things I saw Richard do
0:56:28 > 0:56:32was wink at his wife and look at me and say, "Cheeky!"
0:56:35 > 0:56:37- NANETTE NEWMAN:- I shall never think of Dickie as he was
0:56:37 > 0:56:40the last few years of his life, because
0:56:40 > 0:56:43the person that I remember,
0:56:43 > 0:56:48and the person that I think went on till a very old age,
0:56:48 > 0:56:50was this man of enthusiasm,
0:56:50 > 0:56:52of passion,
0:56:52 > 0:56:58of desire to do better, explore new areas -
0:56:58 > 0:57:03and with such a...a gust for life.
0:57:05 > 0:57:09Lord Richard Attenborough.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12Compassionate and tenacious,
0:57:12 > 0:57:16who lives on through 70 years of film,
0:57:16 > 0:57:19and always in the hearts of those who knew him.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22And if I look back over MY own life,
0:57:22 > 0:57:26little did I know when I watched that film that I would actually...
0:57:26 > 0:57:29do fine with him, I'd become a friend of his.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33And we'd share confidences.
0:57:36 > 0:57:38On the few occasions of my life where I really needed -
0:57:38 > 0:57:41needed, needed, needed to have a friend,
0:57:41 > 0:57:43he has been utterly consistent. He was always there.
0:57:45 > 0:57:49Generous, warm, kind.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52And always prepared to believe the best of you.
0:57:55 > 0:57:59He was doing more than making wonderful movies.
0:57:59 > 0:58:04He was also trying to make people see
0:58:04 > 0:58:09and make people appreciate what they had, what they didn't have,
0:58:09 > 0:58:13what they should be striving for, I think.
0:58:14 > 0:58:17- JOHN HURT:- The thing is that he was working through
0:58:17 > 0:58:20a period of British film
0:58:20 > 0:58:24which was extremely difficult to navigate.
0:58:24 > 0:58:28And he was responsible, as captain of that ship,
0:58:28 > 0:58:29for getting it through.
0:58:32 > 0:58:37I remember him as somebody in whom I placed an absolute trust.
0:58:37 > 0:58:40And whom I loved very much.