Sir Ralph Richardson (1902–1983) was an English actor who appeared on radio, film, television and stage. Described by The Guardian as "indisputably our most poetic actor", and by the director David Ayliff as "a natural actor ... [who] couldn't stop being a perfect actor", Richardson's career lasted over 50 years. He was—in the words of his biographer, Sheridan Morley—one "of the three great actor knights of the mid-twentieth century", alongside Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud.
After seeing a production of Hamlet starring Sir Frank Benson, Richardson decided to become an actor and made his stage debut, playing a gendarme in The Bishop's Candlesticks in December 1920. After touring and appearing in rep, he made his London debut in July 1926 as the stranger in Oedipus at Colonus. In 1930 he joined the Old Vic where he first met Gielgud, staying with the company until the following year. After service during the Second World War with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, he returned to acting, preferring the works of the more modern authors Luigi Pirandello, Joe Orton, Harold Pinter, George Bernard Shaw and J. B. Priestley to the classic plays of Shakespeare. A radio career ran in parallel to that on the stage, and Richardson was first broadcast in The City in 1929.
Richardson's film career began in 1931 as an uncredited extra in Dreyfus; he did not take film seriously as a medium, but undertook the work for money. His career in film was described by the film historian Brian McFarlane, writing for the British Film Institute, as "prolific and random"; McFarlane considered that in Richardson's performances, "he would remind one that he had few peers and no superiors in his particular line". Richardson won many awards for his performances on stage and screen before his death, including a BAFTA award for The Sound Barrier; an Evening Standard Award for Home, which he shared with John Gielgud; and a special Laurence Olivier Award. His final film, —for which he received further critical plaudits and award nominations—was released after his death.
| Production | Date | Role | Theatre (London, unless otherwise noted) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 | Gendarme | St Nicholas Hall, Brighton | ||
| Cuthbert | St Nicholas Hall, Brighton | |||
| Macbeth | Macduff and Banquo | St Nicholas Hall, Brighton | ||
| Father | St Nicholas Hall, Brighton | |||
| Tranio | St Nicholas Hall, Brighton | |||
| Twelfth Night | Malvolio | St Nicholas Hall, Brighton | ||
| Oliver Twist | Mr Bumble and Bill Sikes | St Nicholas Hall, Brighton | ||
| Lorenzo | Marina Theatre, Lowestoft and touring | |||
| Hamlet | Bernardo and Guildenstern | touring | ||
| Pedant | touring | |||
| Julius Caesar | Soothsayer and Strato | touring | ||
| As You Like It | Oliver | touring | ||
| Henry V | Scroop and Gower | touring | ||
| Macbeth | Angus and Macduff | touring | ||
| Francisco | touring | |||
| Lysander | touring | |||
| Twelfth Night | Curio and Valentine | touring | ||
| Macbeth | Banquo | touring | ||
| Lysander | touring | |||
| Hamlet | Horatio | touring | ||
| Julius Caesar | Decius Brutus and Octavius | touring | ||
| Twelfth Night | Fabian | touring | ||
| Vincentio | touring | |||
| Lucentio | touring | |||
| Othello | Cassio | touring | ||
| Antonio and Gratiano | touring | |||
| Julius Caesar | Antony | touring | ||
| Abbey Theatre, Dublin | ||||
| Bobby | Abbey Theatre, Dublin | |||
| Outward Bound | Henry | touring | ||
| Fainall | touring | |||
| 1925 | touring | |||
| Birmingham Repertory Theatre | ||||
| Birmingham Repertory Theatre | ||||
| Birmingham Repertory Theatre | ||||
| Lane | Birmingham Repertory Theatre | |||
| He Who Gets Slapped | Gentleman | Birmingham Repertory Theatre | ||
| Devonshire Cream | Birmingham Repertory Theatre | |||
| Hobson's Choice | Birmingham Repertory Theatre | |||
| Birmingham Repertory Theatre | ||||
| Birmingham Repertory Theatre | ||||
| Dear Brutus | Dearth | Birmingham Repertory Theatre | ||
| Oedipus at Colonus | Scala | |||
| Yellow Sands | Haymarket | |||
| Back to Methuselah | Zazim and Pygmalion | Court | ||
| Harold | Gurth | Court | ||
| Tranio | Court | |||
| Prejudice | Arts | |||
| Aren't Women Wonderful? | Court | |||
| Garrick | ||||
| David | Little Theatre, Epsom | |||
| Monsieur Beaucaire | touring in South Africa | |||
| touring in South Africa | ||||
| David Garrick | touring in South Africa | |||
| Silver Wings | Dominion and touring | |||
| Othello | Roderigo | Savoy | ||
| Henry IV, Part 1 | ||||
| Sir Harry Beagle | ||||
| Caliban | ||||
| Richard II | Bolingbroke | |||
| Antony and Cleopatra | Enobarbus | |||
| Twelfth Night | Sadler's Wells | |||
| Arms and the Man | Bluntschli | and Sadler's Wells | ||
| Much Ado About Nothing | and Sadler's Wells | |||
| King Lear | Kent | and Sadler's Wells | ||
| Nicholas | Festival Theatre, Malvern | |||
| She Would If She Could | Courtall | Festival Theatre, Malvern | ||
| Festival Theatre, Malvern | ||||
| King John | Faulconbridge | |||
| Petruchio | ||||
| Bottom | ||||
| Henry V | Henry V | |||
| Ralph | ||||
| Julius Caesar | Brutus | |||
| Abraham Lincoln | ||||
| Othello | Iago | |||
| Hamlet | ||||
| Ralph Roister Doister | Festival Theatre, Malvern | |||
| Face | Festival Theatre, Malvern | |||
| Oroonoko | Oroonoko | Festival Theatre, Malvern | ||
| Too True to Be Good | Festival Theatre, Malvern | |||
| Too True to Be Good | New | |||
| For Services Rendered | Globe | |||
| Head-on Crash | Queen's Theatre | |||
| Wild Decembers | Apollo | |||
| Sheppey | Sheppey | Wyndham's | ||
| Peter Pan | Palladium | |||
| Marriage is No Joke | Globe | |||
| Eden End | Duchess | |||
| Cornelius | Cornelius | Duchess | ||
| Romeo and Juliet | Mercutio and Chorus | Martin Beck Theatre, New York, and on US tour | ||
| Promise | Shaftesbury | |||
| Bees on the Boat Deck | Lyric | |||
| The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse | Haymarket | |||
| St James's | ||||
| Bottom | ||||
| Othello | 1938 | Othello | ||
| Johnson Over Jordan | 1939 | New | ||
| Peer Gynt | Peer | New and touring in Germany and France | ||
| Arms and the Man | Bluntschli | New and touring in Germany and France | ||
| Richard III | Richmond | New and touring in Germany and France | ||
| Uncle Vanya | New | |||
| Henry IV, Part 1 | New and Century, New York | |||
| Henry IV, Part 2 | New and Century, New York | |||
| Oedipus Rex | Tiresias | New and Century, New York | ||
| New and Century, New York | ||||
| -47 | New | |||
| Cyrano de Bergerac | -47 | Cyrano | New | |
| -47 | Face | New | ||
| Richard II | -47 | New | ||
| Royal Circle | 1948 | Marcus | Wyndham's | |
| 1949 | Haymarket | |||
| Home at Seven | 1950 | Wyndham's | ||
| Three Sisters | 1951 | Vershinin | Aldwych | |
| Prospero | Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon | |||
| Macbeth | Macbeth | Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon | ||
| Volpone | Volpone | Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon | ||
| Globe | ||||
| A Day by the Sea | Haymarket | |||
| Separate Tables | Australasian tour | |||
| Grand Duke | Australasian tour | |||
| Timon of Athens | 1956 | Timon | ||
| Coronet, New York | ||||
| Flowering Cherry | Cherry | Haymarket and UK tour | ||
| 1959 | Globe | |||
| 1960 | Phoenix | |||
| 1962–63 | Haymarket, Majestic, New York and US tour | |||
| Six Characters in Search of an Author | 1963 | Father | May Fair | |
| Shylock | Theatre Royal, Brighton, and tour to South America and Europe | |||
| Bottom | Theatre Royal, Brighton, and tour to South America and Europe | |||
| Carving a Statue | Father | Haymarket | ||
| You Never Can Tell | Waiter | Haymarket | ||
| Haymarket | ||||
| 1967 | Shylock | Haymarket | ||
| What the Butler Saw | 1969 | Queen's Theatre | ||
| Home | 1970 | Jack | Royal Court, Apollo and Morosco, New York | |
| West of Suez | 1971 | Royal Court and Cambridge | ||
| Lloyd George Knew My Father | 1972 | Savoy and tour of Australia and North America | ||
| John Gabriel Borkman | Borkman | |||
| No Man's Land | Hirst | , and Longacre, New York | ||
| 1977 | Cecil | Lyric | ||
| Firs | National | |||
| Alice's Boys | Savoy | |||
| National | ||||
| 1979 | National | |||
| 1979 | Old Ekdal | National | ||
| Early Days | 1980 | Kitchen | National and North American tour | |
| 1982 | Leonard | Strand | ||
| Inner Voices | 1983 | National |
| Play | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Scenes from Julius Caesar | ||
| Twelfth Night | ||
| Captain Brassbound's Conversion | ||
| Scenes from King Lear | 1930 | |
| Romeo and Juliet | 1932 | |
| Macbeth | ||
| Julius Caesar | ||
| 1934 | ||
| Through the Looking-Glass | 1935 | |
| In Memoriam | ||
| Candida | 1937 | |
| Johnson Over Jordan | 1940 | |
| Job | 1941 | |
| Doctor Faustus | ||
| Don Quixote | 1943 | |
| Peer Gynt | 1944 | |
| Cyrano de Bergerac | ||
| Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 | ||
| Victory Programme | ||
| Moby-Dick | 1946 | |
| 1947 | ||
| Brand | 1949 | |
| Home at Seven | 1951 | |
| Play | 1958 | |
| Richard II | 1960 | |
| Hamlet | ||
| Arms and the Man | ||
| 1964 | ||
| Cyrano de Bergerac | 1966 | |
| Heartbreak House | 1968 | |
| When We Dead Awaken | ||
| Much Ado About Nothing | ||
| John Gabriel Borkman | 1974 | |
| Programme on William Blake | 1977 | |
| Readings from Andrew Marvell | 1978 | |
| Notes on a Cellar Book | 1980 | |
| Little Tich – Giant of the Halls | 1982 |
| Programme | Date | Channel | Role | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bees on the Boatdeck | ||||
| Everyman | Voice of God | |||
| Fireside Theater | NBC (USA) | |||
| Alexander Korda, Kt. | BBC Television | On-screen Participant | ||
| Salute to Show Business | On-screen Participant | |||
| On-screen Participant | ||||
| British Art and Artists: A Sculptor's Landscape | BBC Television | On-screen Participant | ||
| Here and Now: City of London Festival | ITV | On-screen Participant | ||
| Here and Now: Lord Mayor | ITV | On-screen Participant | ||
| BBC Television | ||||
| Hedda Gabler | BBC Television | |||
| Voices of Man | ||||
| – 22 November 1964 | BBC Television | |||
| Thursday Theatre: Johnson Over Jordan | BBC Television | |||
| – 13 March 1967 | BBC Television | |||
| Twelfth Night | ITV | |||
| BBC Television | On-screen Participant | |||
| Narrator | ||||
| Narrator | ||||
| ITV | on-screen participant | |||
| Hassan | Hassan | |||
| She Stoops to Conquer | ||||
| Weekend Play: Twelfth Night | ITV | |||
| Carol Channing's Mad English Tea Party | ||||
| Play for Today "Home" | BBC Television | Jack | ||
| NBC (USA) | Lacey | |||
| ITV | ||||
| Your National Theatre | ITV | On-screen Participant | ||
| This Is Your Life | ITV | Guest | ||
| No Man's Land | ITV | Hirst | ||
| Tonight in Town | BBC Television | On-screen Participant | ||
| Pot Black | BBC Television | Awards presenter | ||
| Parkinson | BBC Television | On-screen Participant | ||
| Charlie Muffin | ITV | |||
| Chaos Supersedes ENSA | ITV | Cast Member | ||
| Frank and Polly Muir's Big Dipper | ITV | On-screen Participant | ||
| ITV | Cast Member | |||
| Early Days | ITV | Cast Member | ||
| ITV | Cast Member | |||
| Witness for the Prosecution | CBS |
Notes
References