Richard Samuel Attenborough

 Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, CBE (August 29, 1923-August 24, 2014)

As a film director and producer, he won two Academy Awards for Gandhi in 1983. He also won four BAFTA Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. As an actor, he is perhaps best known for his roles in Brighton Rock, The Great Escape, 10 Rillington Place, Miracle on 34th Street and Jurassic Park. He was also the older brother of Sir David Attenborough, a naturalist and broadcaster, and John Attenborough, an executive at Alfa Romeo. Attenborough's film career began in 1942 in an uncredited role as a deserting sailor in the Noël Coward/David Lean production In Which We Serve (his name and character were accidentally omitted from the original release-print credits). Attenborough worked prolifically in British films for the next 30 years, including in the 1950s, appearing in several successful comedies for the John and Roy Boulting, such as Private's Progress (1956) and I'm All Right Jack (1959). In 1963, he appeared in the ensemble cast of The Great Escape as RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett ("Big X"), the head of the escape committee, based on the real-life exploits of Roger Bushell. It was his first appearance in a major Hollywood film blockbuster and his most successful film thus far. In 1965 he played Lew Moran opposite James Stewart in The Flight of the Phoenix and in 1967 and 1968, he won back-to-back Golden Globe Awards in the category of Best Supporting Actor, the first time for The Sand Pebbles, again co-starring Steve McQueen, and the second time for Doctor Dolittle starring Rex Harrison. After appearing in The Human Factor (1979), Attenborough took a leave from acting until he played the eccentric developer John Hammond in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993) and the film's sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). He starred in the remake of Miracle on 34th Street (1994) as Kris Kringle. He won the 1982 Academy Award for Best Director and as the film's producer, the Academy Award for Best Picture for his historical epic Gandhi. Attenborough died five days short of his 91st birthday, having been in poor health the last few years of his life.