大象传媒

It's no exaggeration to say that Lord Attenborough, or Richard Attenborough as he is better known, is famous around the world.

In one sense I suspect we rather take him for granted. What other actor has such an extraordinary range? Who, apart from Gielgud, has had such longevity?

Listen: Interview with Richard Attenborough

Listen to Lord Attenborough in conversation with 大象传媒 Radio Leicester's John Florance...

He's played the serial killer John Christie as well as the man who runs 'Jurassic Park'. He's done comedy with Peter Sellers and sung and danced in 'Doctor Dolittle'. He's tunnelled out of POW camps and into our consciousness as Pinkie in 'Brighton Rock'.

And the films he has directed are often strikingly original.

He thinks his best is the movie about the Oxford academic C. S. Lewis, 'Shadowlands' though I'm sure most cinema goers would plump for 'Gandhi' or perhaps 'Oh! What a Lovely War'.

I think one of the distinguishing marks of him as a director is that he can create great cinematic spectacle whilst simultaneously never losing sight of real human concerns and suffering.

This is certainly true of 'A Bridge Too Far' and 'Gandhi'.

I spoke to Lord Attenborough in his private cinema in the grounds of his house in Richmond on Thames.

His enthusiasm is undimmed and he recounted his meetings with the likes of Bernard Shaw and Noel Coward as if they happened yesterday.

Vocation

He also retains a great affection for Leicester, the city which in one sense formed him. Without the Little Theatre perhaps he wouldn't have found his vocation as quickly as he did.

At 84 he is still full of energy and plans.

His most recent film, which stars Shirley MacLaine, comes out in time for Christmas and he is very proud of it.

Tom Paine

Lord Attenborough still wants to make more pictures including one about the eighteenth century radical Tom Paine.

This is a film he has wanted to make since before Gandhi which is now, astonishingly, 25 years old.

May he be granted the time and health to complete it!