Born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, Ralph Richardson, the
son of a teacher at Cheltenham College, made his professional stage
debut in 1921 at the Little Theatre, Brighton. In 1926 he joined the
Birmingham Repertory Theatre. He commenced his association with the
Old Vic in 1930, and gained prominence in a series of West End productions
of modern plays, including Somerset Maugham's Sheppey (1933) and J.B.
Priestley's Cornelius (1935). Richardson made his feature film debut
in Boris Karloff's The
Ghoul (1933), about a dead Egyptologist returning from beyond the
grave. He was prominent in the West End throughout the remainder of
the decade, touring the United States in 1935, and in 1938. During World
War II, Richardson served in the Fleet Air Arm. When demobbed in 1944,
he was asked to lead the Old Vic's post-war revival after it had been
bombed out of its old premises. 1946, he went with the Old Vic on a
tour of the United States. He was knighted in 1947. Meanwhile, he made
a great impact at the cinema, notably in his award-winning performance
as the suspected butler in Carol
Reed's The
Fallen Idol (1948).
Richardson joined up with David
Lean for the role of Sir John Ridgefield in The
Sound Barrier (1952), about the early days of jet flight, and renewed
his association with Carol Reed in Our
Man in Havana (1959). In addition to these he made an appearance
in director Laurence Olivier's lavish
production of Richard
III (1955). During the 1950s Richardson also performed at the Shakespeare
Memorial Theatre, receiving excellent notices for his Prospero in Shakespeare's
The Tempest and the title role in Jonson's Volpone. After a period away
from the stage, Richardson returned triumphantly to the theatre in Robert
Bolt's Flowering Cherry (1957). Throughout the 1960s Richardson accepted
more roles in films, including Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962),
a supporting role in David Lean's Dr.
Zhivago (1965) and a comedic turn in The
Wrong Box (1966). During the late 1970s and early 1980s Richardson's
work included stage productions of Shakespeare and a whimsical appearance
as God in Terry Gilliam's fantasy
adventure Time Bandits
(1981).
