RALPH RICHARDSON

Ralph Richardson was born in England in 1902. He was primarily a stage actor throughout his life, and together with Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud is considered one of England's three greatest stage actors. But fortunately Richardson fairly regularly turned to making movies, making 82 of them between 1933 and 1985, including Greystoke (for which he was posthumously nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award). He is likely best remembered by U.S. audiences as Baines the impeccable butler in The Fallen Idol, and as the most awful father imaginable in The Heiress (nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for this film), but he stood out in every role he played, and added much to every movie he appeared in. He chose his movies well, and I don't think you would go wrong to see any of the movies he appeared in. I imagine I surely first saw him in his minor supporting role as General Sutherland in Exodus in 1960 as a young boy, and I remember very well his wonderful scenes with the anti-Semitic British officer played by Peter Lawford. He stood out for me even then! Richardson passed away in 1983 at the age of 80.