Born in Gloucestshire in 1902, Ralph Richardson, the son of a teacher at Cheltenham College, made his professional stage debut in 1921 at the Little Theatre, Brighton. He began his association with the Old Vic in 1930, gaining prominence in a series of West End productions of modern plays. Making his feature film debut in The Ghoul (1933), opposite star Boris Karloff, he remained prominent in the West End throughout the remainder of the decade.
During World War II, Richardson served in the Fleet Air Arm. Upon leaving the service in 1944, he was asked to lead the Old Vic after it had been bombed out of its old premises. At the same time, he began making an impact in the cinema, notably for his award-winning performances in Carol Reed's The Fallen Idol and William Wyler's The Heiress (both 1948). Richardson joined up with David Lean for The Sound Barrier (1952), about the early days of jet flight; appeared in Laurence Olivier's lavish production of Richard III (1955); and re-teamed with Carol Reed in Our Man in Havana (1959). Throughout the 1960s Richardson accepted more roles in movies, including Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962), David Lean's Dr. Zhivago (1965) and the comedy The Wrong Box (1966). Richardson died in 1983.
Rialto Pictures
