Tony Richardson is a famous British director, producer and screenwriter. In 1961, he received the BAFTA Award, and in 1963 he won the Academy Award.
Biography
Tony Richardson, whose biography is not so rich in facts, was born on 05/05/1928 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 days at Oxford University. After graduating, Richardson went to work on television as a producer and director in the theater.
Tony chose a career in television not for money, he was really interested in the future development of cinema in the UK.
In the 1950s, he and his friends founded the Free Cinema movement, which advocated an independent approach to documentary films.
Another interesting fact in the director’s biography is that he sponsored George Blake’s escape from Britain, who was imprisoned and sentenced to 42 years in prison in 1961 for espionage in favor of the Soviet Union.
Free movie movement
The movement was founded by young directors Lindsay Anderson, Tony Richardson, Karel Reish and Lorenza Mazzetti. The films they made were non-profit, so the directors did not have enough money to organize their distribution.
Lindsay, Tony, Lorenza and Karel decide to organize a rental of their work together. They write a manifesto in which they set forth the main ideas of the Free Cinema organization. This attracts the attention of the press and viewers to documentaries by young film masters. Over the next three years, five more screenings of "independent films" were organized. The movement was sponsored by Ford Motor and the British Film Institute's Experimental Film Foundation.
Although the last official screening of Free Cinema was released in 1959, until 1963, films were released that are stylistically and formatally related to this movement.
Career
After “Free Cinema” Tony Richardson, whose photo is already flickering in the press, becomes a rather famous director. He has the necessary experience and connections in the cinema. Back in the 50s, Richardson, together with John Osborne, a playwright and screenwriter, organized Woodfall Film Productions to shoot and produce his own films.
In 1958, the television version of the play by John Osborne with Richard Burton in the title role "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 for the Tony Award three times in the categories of "Best Play", "Best Actress" (Mary Yur).
The television version of the play, although it did not receive the same warm reviews from critics as the Broadway production, but earned many film awards. She was nominated for the Golden Globe in the category "Best Actor", for the BAFTA Award in the categories "For the Best Film", "For the Best Actor", "For the Best Screenplay of a British Film" and was among the five best foreign films of the year of the National United States Film Critics Council.
Movie "Tom Jones"
Tony Richardson’s films are largely 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 the director and the producer, is an adaptation of the fielding comedy "The Story of Tom Jones, the Foundling." Actors Albert Finney, Hugh Griffith, Susanne York, Edith Evans, Diane Silento and others performed the roles in the film.
As a result, viewers and critics of the film greeted warmly. First, he was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and the award was given for Best Actor. Then came the awards of the British Academy, the Golden Globe and the Oscars.
The film received four Oscars, including Best Film, and was nominated in six more categories of this prestigious award. The Golden Globes picture received three at once, including Best Film, and was nominated in four more categories.
“Tom Jones” was the most successful job in Richardson’s career.
Personal life and death
From 1962 to 1967, the director was married to an actress named Vanessa Redgrave. From this marriage, Tony Richardson has two daughters - Natasha and Joely Richardson. Both of them decided to become actresses.
Tony openly admitted his bisexuality when doctors diagnosed him with HIV infection.
On November 14, 1991, at the age of 63, director Tony Richardson died in Los Angeles, USA.
