Ian Richardson
Encyclopedia
Ian William Richardson CBE (7 April 19349 February 2007) was a Scottish
actor best known for his portrayal of the Machiavellian
Tory
politician Francis Urquhart
in the BBC
's House of Cards
trilogy. He was also a leading Shakespearean
stage actor.
, the son of Margaret (née Drummond) and John Richardson. He was educated in the city, at Balgreen
Primary School, Tynecastle High School
and George Heriot's School
. He first appeared on stage at the age of fourteen, in an amateur production of A Tale of Two Cities
. The director encouraged his talent, but warned that he would need to lose his Scottish accent to progress as an actor. His mother arranged elocution lessons and he became a stage manager with the semi-professional Edinburgh People's Theatre. After National Service
in the Army
(part of which he spent as an announcer and drama director with the British Forces Broadcasting Service
) he obtained a place at the College of Dramatic Arts
in Glasgow
. After a period at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre
he appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company
(RSC), of which he was a founding member, from 1960 to 1975.
(1990), Ian Richardson was primarily a superb classical stage actor. His first engagement after training was with Birmingham Repertory Theatre
, where his performance of Hamlet
led to an offer of a place with the RSC. He was a versatile member of the company for more than fifteen years, playing villainy, comedy and tragedy to equal effect. He was The Herald in Peter Brook
's production of Marat/Sade
in London in 1964; in the New York transfer he took the lead role of Marat (and so became the first actor to appear nude on the Broadway stage), a performance he repeated for 1967 film version. In the 1969 season his roles included Pericles
in Terry Hands
's production.
In 1972, he appeared in the musical Trelawney, with which the Bristol Old Vic reopened after its refurbishment. It proved a great success, transferring to London, first to Sadler's Wells
and later to The Savoy
. Richardson played the hero, Tom Wrench, a small-part player who wants to write about "real people". He had a song, "Walking On", lamenting his lack of scope in the company, in which he explains that as a "walking gentleman" he will be forever "walking on", whilst Rose Trelawney will go on to be a star.
Richardson specialised in Shakespearean roles. In 1974, he played Iachimo in John Barton
's RSC production of Cymbeline
. Richardson's Richard II
(alternating the parts of the king and Bolingbroke
with Richard Pasco
) in 1974, and repeated in New York and London in the following year, set a standard unequalled for a generation: more than thirty years later notable performances of King Richard were still being compared with the production.
A notable Shakespearean cameo role was a brief performance as Hamlet in the gravedigger scene as part of episode six, 'Protest and Communication', of Kenneth Clark's
Civilisation television series in 1969. This was performed at Kirby Hall
in Northamptonshire
with Patrick Stewart
as Horatio and Ronald Lacey
as the gravedigger.
On leaving the RSC, he played Professor Henry Higgins in the 1976 Broadway revival of My Fair Lady
and received the Drama Desk Award
and a Tony
nomination. He also appeared on Broadway in 1981 in the original production of Edward Albee
's play Lolita, an adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's book
, but this is not regarded as having been a success.
In 2002 Richardson joined Sir Derek Jacobi
, Sir Donald Sinden
and Dame Diana Rigg
in an international tour of The Hollow Crown. A Canadian tour substituted Alan Howard
for Jacobi and Vanessa Redgrave
for Rigg. He also appeared in The Creeper by Pauline Macaulay at the Playhouse Theatre in London, and on tour. His last stage appearance was in 2006 as Sir Epicure Mammon in The Alchemist
at the National Theatre
in London.
, the 1972 screen version of the Broadway musical. In 1987, he played a variation on this role, when he portrayed the Bishop of Motopo in the non-musical telefilm Monsignor Quixote
, based on Graham Greene
's modernized take on the Quixote story.
He made many film appearances, including Brazil
(1985), Dark City (1998), Polonius
in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
(1990), wine dealer Sir Mason Harwood in The Year Of The Comet
(1992), the French ambassador in M. Butterfly
(1993), Martin Landau
's butler in B*A*P*S (1997), Cruella de Vil
's solicitor, Mr. Torte, in the live action film 102 Dalmatians
(2000) and From Hell
(2001). He also played the Judge in the family-based 2005 film, The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby
. His final film appearance was as Judge Langlois in Becoming Jane
, released shortly after his death.
(1979). In the 1980s he became well-known as Major Neuheim in the award-winning Private Schulz
, and more notably Sir Godber Evans
in Channel 4's adaptation of Porterhouse Blue
. He played Jawaharlal Nehru
in the 1986 television serial, Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy, and in 1988 he played Edward Spencer, the eccentric and oblivious English landowner in 1920s' Ireland in Troubles
, from J. G. Farrell's award-winning novel.
Richardson's most acclaimed television role was as Machiavellian
politician Francis Urquhart
in the BBC
adaptation of Michael Dobbs's House of Cards trilogy. He won the BAFTA Best Television Actor Award for his portrayal in the first series, House of Cards
(1990), and was nominated for both of the sequels To Play the King
(1993) and The Final Cut
(1995). He also received another BAFTA film nomination for his role as Falkland Islands governor Sir Rex Hunt in the 1992 film An Ungentlemanly Act
, and played another corrupt politician, Michael Spearpoint, British Director of the European Economic Community in the ambitious satirical series The Gravy Train and The Gravy Train Goes East. He narrated the 1996 BBC docudrama
A Royal Scandal
.
In 1999, he became known to a young audience as the titular character Stephen Tyler in both series of the family drama The Magician's House (1999–2000). Following this he played Lord Groan in the major BBC
production Gormenghast (2000), and later that year he starred in the BBC production Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes
(2000–2001) (also screened in PBS's Mystery!
series in the US), playing Arthur Conan Doyle
's mentor, Dr. Joseph Bell
, a role he welcomed as an opportunity to play a character from his native Edinburgh
. He had earlier played Sherlock Holmes
in two 1980s television versions of The Hound of the Baskervilles
and The Sign of Four
. In 2003 he once more returned to fantasy in the recurring role of the villainous Canon Black in the short-lived BBC cult series Strange.
In 2005, he took on the role of a curiously detached Chancellor in the highly successful TV drama Bleak House. In that year he appeared in ITV's main Christmas drama The Booze Cruise 2, playing Marcus Foster, a slimy upper class businessman forced to spend time with "the lower classes". He returned to this role for a sequel the following Easter. In June 2006 he was made an honorary Doctor of the University of Stirling
. The honour was conferred on him by the university's chancellor, fellow actor Dame Diana Rigg
. In December 2006, Richardson starred in Sky One
's two-part adaptation of the Terry Pratchett
novel Hogfather
. He voiced the main character of the novel, Death
, who steps in to take over the role of the Father Christmas-like Hogfather. The DVD of that miniseries, released shortly after his death, opens with a dedication to his memory.
He was also familiar to American television viewers as the man in the Rolls-Royce
who asks "Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon
?" in commercials for this Dijon mustard. During the last fifteen years of his life Richardson appeared five times on television acting opposite his son, Miles Richardson
, though this was usually with one or other in a minor role. In ITV's Marple, an uncredited Miles played Ian Richardson's son.
the following week. He was survived by his wife, Maroussia Frank, an actress, and two sons, one of whom, Miles
, is an actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company
. His widow and his son Miles placed his ashes in the foundations of the auditorium of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre
in Stratford during its renovations in 2008.
Dame Helen Mirren
dedicated her 2006 Best Actress BAFTA award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II
in the film The Queen
to Ian Richardson. While conducting her acceptance speech, she said that without his support early in her career she might not have been so successful, before breaking down and leaving the stage.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
actor best known for his portrayal of the Machiavellian
Machiavellianism
Machiavellianism is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct", deriving from the Italian Renaissance diplomat and writer Niccolò Machiavelli, who wrote Il Principe and other works...
Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
politician Francis Urquhart
Francis Urquhart
Francis Ewan Urquhart is a fictional character created by Michael Dobbs. A Conservative politician, he appeared in a trilogy of novels: House of Cards in 1989, To Play the King in 1992 and The Final Cut in 1995...
in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's House of Cards
House of Cards
House of Cards is a 1990 political thriller television drama serial by the BBC in four parts, set after the end of Margaret Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It was televised from 18 November to 9 December 1990, to critical and popular acclaim...
trilogy. He was also a leading Shakespearean
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
stage actor.
Early life
Richardson was born in EdinburghEdinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, the son of Margaret (née Drummond) and John Richardson. He was educated in the city, at Balgreen
Balgreen
Balgreen is a suburb of Edinburgh. The name comes from Scottish Gaelic, either being Baile na Grèine or Baile Grain from the gravel on the riverbank. It does not, as some etymologies have suggested, come from "Ball Green"...
Primary School, Tynecastle High School
Tynecastle High School
Tynecastle High School is a secondary school in South West Edinburgh, Scotland.-Headteacher and SMT:The Headteacher is Tom Rae. He is assisted by his depute heads Elizabeth Turnbull, Jacqueline Ramsay and Jim Brown.-History:...
and George Heriot's School
George Heriot's School
George Heriot's School is an independent primary and secondary school on Lauriston Place in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, with around 1600 pupils, 155 teaching staff and 80 non-teaching staff. It was established in 1628 as George Heriot's Hospital, by bequest of the royal goldsmith George...
. He first appeared on stage at the age of fourteen, in an amateur production of A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature....
. The director encouraged his talent, but warned that he would need to lose his Scottish accent to progress as an actor. His mother arranged elocution lessons and he became a stage manager with the semi-professional Edinburgh People's Theatre. After National Service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
in the Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
(part of which he spent as an announcer and drama director with the British Forces Broadcasting Service
British Forces Broadcasting Service
The British Forces Broadcasting Service provides radio and television programmes for HM Forces, and their dependents, in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Gibraltar, Kosovo, the Middle East, Northern Ireland and Tristan da Cunha as well as a live satellite...
) he obtained a place at the College of Dramatic Arts
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is a conservatoire of music, drama, and dance in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Educational Association, it is the busiest performing arts venue in Scotland...
in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. After a period at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Old Rep
The Old Rep is a theatre located in Station Street in Birmingham, England, managed by Birmingham City Council.Construction began in October 1912 and it was opened on February 15, 1913 with a performance of Twelfth Night and then a reading by its founder, Barry Jackson, of a poem written by John...
he appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
(RSC), of which he was a founding member, from 1960 to 1975.
Stage work
Although he later achieved fame in film and television work such as House of CardsHouse of Cards
House of Cards is a 1990 political thriller television drama serial by the BBC in four parts, set after the end of Margaret Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It was televised from 18 November to 9 December 1990, to critical and popular acclaim...
(1990), Ian Richardson was primarily a superb classical stage actor. His first engagement after training was with Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Birmingham Repertory Theatre is a theatre and theatre company based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England...
, where his performance of Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
led to an offer of a place with the RSC. He was a versatile member of the company for more than fifteen years, playing villainy, comedy and tragedy to equal effect. He was The Herald in Peter Brook
Peter Brook
Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:...
's production of Marat/Sade
Marat/Sade
The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade , almost invariably shortened to Marat/Sade, is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss...
in London in 1964; in the New York transfer he took the lead role of Marat (and so became the first actor to appear nude on the Broadway stage), a performance he repeated for 1967 film version. In the 1969 season his roles included Pericles
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Pericles, Prince of Tyre is a Jacobean play written at least in part by William Shakespeare and included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions over its authorship, as it was not included in the First Folio...
in Terry Hands
Terry Hands
Terence David Hands is an English theatre director. He ran the Royal Shakespeare Company for 20 years during one of its most successful periods.-Early years:...
's production.
In 1972, he appeared in the musical Trelawney, with which the Bristol Old Vic reopened after its refurbishment. It proved a great success, transferring to London, first to Sadler's Wells
Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue located in Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington. The present day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500 seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive...
and later to The Savoy
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...
. Richardson played the hero, Tom Wrench, a small-part player who wants to write about "real people". He had a song, "Walking On", lamenting his lack of scope in the company, in which he explains that as a "walking gentleman" he will be forever "walking on", whilst Rose Trelawney will go on to be a star.
Richardson specialised in Shakespearean roles. In 1974, he played Iachimo in John Barton
John Barton (director)
John Bernard Adie Barton CBE is a theatrical director. He is the son of Sir Harold Montagu and Lady Joyce Barton. He married Anne Righter, a university lecturer, in 1968....
's RSC production of Cymbeline
Cymbeline
Cymbeline , also known as Cymbeline, King of Britain or The Tragedy of Cymbeline, is a play by William Shakespeare, based on legends concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobelinus. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance...
. Richardson's Richard II
Richard II (play)
King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
(alternating the parts of the king and Bolingbroke
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
with Richard Pasco
Richard Pasco
Richard Edward Pasco, CBE is a British stage, screen and TV actor.-Early life:Pasco was born in Barnes, London, the son of Phyllis Irene and Cecil George Pasco. He was educated at the King's College School, Wimbledon...
) in 1974, and repeated in New York and London in the following year, set a standard unequalled for a generation: more than thirty years later notable performances of King Richard were still being compared with the production.
A notable Shakespearean cameo role was a brief performance as Hamlet in the gravedigger scene as part of episode six, 'Protest and Communication', of Kenneth Clark's
Kenneth Clark
Kenneth McKenzie Clark, Baron Clark, OM, CH, KCB, FBA was a British author, museum director, broadcaster, and one of the best-known art historians of his generation...
Civilisation television series in 1969. This was performed at Kirby Hall
Kirby Hall
Kirby Hall is an Elizabethan country house, located near Gretton, Northamptonshire, England. . Construction on the building began in 1570 based on the designs in French architectural pattern books and expanded in the classical style over the course of the decades. The house is now in a semi-ruined...
in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
with Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Hewes Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor, who has had a distinguished career in theatre and television for around half a century...
as Horatio and Ronald Lacey
Ronald Lacey
Ronald Lacey was an English actor. He made numerous television and film appearances over a 30 year period and is perhaps best remembered for his villainous roles in Hollywood films, most famously Major Arnold Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark.-Career:Lacey attended Harrow Weald Grammar School and...
as the gravedigger.
On leaving the RSC, he played Professor Henry Higgins in the 1976 Broadway revival of My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
and received the Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
and a Tony
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination. He also appeared on Broadway in 1981 in the original production of Edward Albee
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story , The Sandbox , Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and a rewrite of the screenplay for the unsuccessful musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's . His works are considered well-crafted, often...
's play Lolita, an adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's book
Lolita
Lolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris and 1958 in New York, and later translated by the author into Russian...
, but this is not regarded as having been a success.
In 2002 Richardson joined Sir Derek Jacobi
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
, Sir Donald Sinden
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
and Dame Diana Rigg
Diana Rigg
Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service....
in an international tour of The Hollow Crown. A Canadian tour substituted Alan Howard
Alan Howard
Alan MacKenzie Howard, CBE, is an English actor known for his roles on stage, television and film.He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1966 to 1983, and played leading roles at the Royal National Theatre between 1992 and 2000.-Personal life:Howard is the only son of the actor...
for Jacobi and Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
for Rigg. He also appeared in The Creeper by Pauline Macaulay at the Playhouse Theatre in London, and on tour. His last stage appearance was in 2006 as Sir Epicure Mammon in The Alchemist
The Alchemist (play)
The Alchemist is a comedy by English playwright Ben Jonson. First performed in 1610 by the King's Men, it is generally considered Jonson's best and most characteristic comedy; Samuel Taylor Coleridge claimed that it had one of the three most perfect plots in literature...
at the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
in London.
Films
He played one musical role on film - the Priest in Man of La ManchaMan of La Mancha (film)
Man of La Mancha is a 1972 film adaptation of the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha by Dale Wasserman, with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion...
, the 1972 screen version of the Broadway musical. In 1987, he played a variation on this role, when he portrayed the Bishop of Motopo in the non-musical telefilm Monsignor Quixote
Monsignor Quixote
Monsignor Quixote is a novel by Graham Greene, published in 1982. The book is a pastiche of the classic Spanish novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes with many moments of hilarious comedy, but also offers reflection on matters such as life after a dictatorship, Communism, and the Catholic...
, based on Graham Greene
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
's modernized take on the Quixote story.
He made many film appearances, including Brazil
Brazil (film)
Brazil is a 1985 British science fiction fantasy/black comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam. It was written by Gilliam, Charles McKeown, and Tom Stoppard and stars Jonathan Pryce. The film also features Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Michael Palin, Katherine Helmond, Bob Hoskins, and Ian Holm...
(1985), Dark City (1998), Polonius
Polonius
Polonius is a character in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. He is King Claudius's chief counsellor, and the father of Ophelia and Laertes. Polonius connives with Claudius to spy on Hamlet...
in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (film)
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is a 1990 film written and directed by Tom Stoppard based on his play of the same name. Like the play, the film depicts two minor characters from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who find themselves on the road to Elsinore Castle...
(1990), wine dealer Sir Mason Harwood in The Year Of The Comet
Year of the Comet
Year of the Comet is a 1992 romantic comedy adventure film about the pursuit of the most valuable bottle of wine in history. The title refers to the year it was bottled, 1811, which was known for the Great Comet of 1811, and also as one of the best years in history for European wine...
(1992), the French ambassador in M. Butterfly
M. Butterfly (film)
M. Butterfly is a 1993 romantic drama film directed by David Cronenberg. The screenplay was written by David Henry Hwang based on his play of the same name...
(1993), Martin Landau
Martin Landau
Martin Landau is an American film and television actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s. His early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest . He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space:1999...
's butler in B*A*P*S (1997), Cruella de Vil
Cruella de Vil
Cruella de Vil is a fictional character and the iconic villain in Dodie Smith's 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians, Disney's 1961 animated film adaptation One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and Disney's live-action film adaptations 101 Dalmatians and 102 Dalmatians. In all her incarnations,...
's solicitor, Mr. Torte, in the live action film 102 Dalmatians
102 Dalmatians
102 Dalmatians is a 2000 live-action film, produced by Walt Disney Pictures and starring Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil. It is the sequel to 101 Dalmatians, a live-action remake of the 1961 Disney animated feature of the same name. In the film, Cruella de Vil attempts to steal puppies for her...
(2000) and From Hell
From Hell (film)
From Hell is a 2001 American crime drama horror mystery film directed by the Hughes brothers. It is an adaptation of the comic book series of the same name by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell about the Jack the Ripper murders.-Plot:...
(2001). He also played the Judge in the family-based 2005 film, The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby
The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby
The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby is a family-based Scottish film released in the USA in 2005 and the UK in 2006, and directed by John Henderson. It is set in Edinburgh, Scotland, and tells the story of a West Highland White Terrier called Bobby, who will not leave his master's grave after his...
. His final film appearance was as Judge Langlois in Becoming Jane
Becoming Jane
Becoming Jane is a 2007 historical film directed by Julian Jarrold. It is inspired by the early life of author Jane Austen , and her posited relationship with Thomas Langlois Lefroy . Also appearing are Julie Walters, James Cromwell and Maggie Smith...
, released shortly after his death.
Television
During his career Richardson gave many memorable television performances. Though certainly not unknown before taking the part, his first major role was his appearance as Bill Haydon ("Tailor") in the BBC adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, SpyTinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a 1974 British spy novel by John le Carré, featuring George Smiley. Smiley is a middle-aged, taciturn, perspicacious intelligence expert in forced retirement. He is recalled to hunt down a Soviet mole in the "Circus", the highest echelon of the Secret Intelligence...
(1979). In the 1980s he became well-known as Major Neuheim in the award-winning Private Schulz
Private Schulz (TV series)
Private Schulz was a BBC television comedy drama mini-series starring Michael Elphick in the title role and Ian Richardson playing various parts...
, and more notably Sir Godber Evans
Sir Godber Evans
Sir Godber Evans is a central character in Porterhouse Blue and, posthumously, Grantchester Grind , two novels about life in the fictitious Porterhouse College at Cambridge by British novelist Tom Sharpe...
in Channel 4's adaptation of Porterhouse Blue
Porterhouse Blue
Porterhouse Blue is a novel written by Tom Sharpe, first published in 1974. There was a Channel 4 TV series in 1987 based on the novel, adapted by Malcolm Bradbury...
. He played Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
in the 1986 television serial, Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy, and in 1988 he played Edward Spencer, the eccentric and oblivious English landowner in 1920s' Ireland in Troubles
Troubles (novel)
Troubles is a 1970 novel by the English author J.G. Farrell. It won the Lost Man Booker Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. Troubles concerns the dilapidation of a once grand Irish hotel , in the midst of the political upheaval during the Irish War of Independence .The novel is the first...
, from J. G. Farrell's award-winning novel.
Richardson's most acclaimed television role was as Machiavellian
Machiavellianism
Machiavellianism is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct", deriving from the Italian Renaissance diplomat and writer Niccolò Machiavelli, who wrote Il Principe and other works...
politician Francis Urquhart
Francis Urquhart
Francis Ewan Urquhart is a fictional character created by Michael Dobbs. A Conservative politician, he appeared in a trilogy of novels: House of Cards in 1989, To Play the King in 1992 and The Final Cut in 1995...
in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
adaptation of Michael Dobbs's House of Cards trilogy. He won the BAFTA Best Television Actor Award for his portrayal in the first series, House of Cards
House of Cards
House of Cards is a 1990 political thriller television drama serial by the BBC in four parts, set after the end of Margaret Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It was televised from 18 November to 9 December 1990, to critical and popular acclaim...
(1990), and was nominated for both of the sequels To Play the King
To Play the King
To Play The King is a 1993 BBC television serial, the second part of the House of Cards trilogy. Directed by Paul Seed, the serial was based on the Michael Dobbs novel of the same name and adapted for television by Andrew Davies...
(1993) and The Final Cut
The Final Cut (TV serial)
The Final Cut is a 1995 BBC television serial, the third part of the House of Cards trilogy. Directed by Mike Vardy, the serial, based on Michael Dobbs's 1995 novel of the same name, was adapted for television by Andrew Davies...
(1995). He also received another BAFTA film nomination for his role as Falkland Islands governor Sir Rex Hunt in the 1992 film An Ungentlemanly Act
An Ungentlemanly Act
An Ungentlemanly Act is a 1992 BBC television film about the first days of the invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982.-Production:The film was written and directed by Stuart Urban, and commissioned to mark the tenth anniversary of the Falklands War...
, and played another corrupt politician, Michael Spearpoint, British Director of the European Economic Community in the ambitious satirical series The Gravy Train and The Gravy Train Goes East. He narrated the 1996 BBC docudrama
Docudrama
In film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
A Royal Scandal
A Royal Scandal
A Royal Scandal is a 1996 British television docudrama produced and directed by Sheree Folkson. The teleplay by Stanley Price focuses on the ill-fated marriage of George IV and Duchess Caroline of Brunswick. Dialogue from actual historical records reveals how each party tries to humiliate the...
.
In 1999, he became known to a young audience as the titular character Stephen Tyler in both series of the family drama The Magician's House (1999–2000). Following this he played Lord Groan in the major BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
production Gormenghast (2000), and later that year he starred in the BBC production Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes
Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes
Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes is a BBC television drama series originally broadcast in 2000 and 2001. It was inspired by the fact that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle based the character of Sherlock Holmes on his tutor at the University of Edinburgh Dr Joseph Bell, and that Bell did...
(2000–2001) (also screened in PBS's Mystery!
Mystery!
Mystery! is an episodic television series that debuted in 1980 in the USA. It airs on PBS and is produced by WGBH...
series in the US), playing Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
's mentor, Dr. Joseph Bell
Joseph Bell
Joseph Bell, JP, DL, FRCS was a famous Scottish lecturer at the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in the 19th century. He is perhaps best known as an inspiration for the literary character Sherlock Holmes....
, a role he welcomed as an opportunity to play a character from his native Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. He had earlier played Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
in two 1980s television versions of The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983 film)
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a British television film directed by Douglas Hickox and starring Ian Richardson as Sherlock Holmes and Donald Churchill as Dr. John H. Watson...
and The Sign of Four
The Sign of Four (1983 film)
The Sign of Four is a British television film directed by Desmond Davis and starring Ian Richardson and David Healy. The movie is based on Arthur Conan Doyle's second Sherlock Holmes story.-Production:...
. In 2003 he once more returned to fantasy in the recurring role of the villainous Canon Black in the short-lived BBC cult series Strange.
In 2005, he took on the role of a curiously detached Chancellor in the highly successful TV drama Bleak House. In that year he appeared in ITV's main Christmas drama The Booze Cruise 2, playing Marcus Foster, a slimy upper class businessman forced to spend time with "the lower classes". He returned to this role for a sequel the following Easter. In June 2006 he was made an honorary Doctor of the University of Stirling
University of Stirling
The University of Stirling is a campus university founded by Royal charter in 1967, on the Airthrey Estate in Stirling, Scotland.-History and campus development:...
. The honour was conferred on him by the university's chancellor, fellow actor Dame Diana Rigg
Diana Rigg
Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service....
. In December 2006, Richardson starred in Sky One
Sky One
Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...
's two-part adaptation of the Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
novel Hogfather
Hogfather
Hogfather is the 20th Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, and a 1997 British Fantasy Award nominee.The Hogfather is also a character in the book, representing something akin to Father Christmas. He grants children's wishes on Hogswatchnight and brings them presents...
. He voiced the main character of the novel, Death
Death (Discworld)
Death is a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series and a parody of several other personifications of death. Like most Grim Reapers, he is a black-robed skeleton usually carrying a scythe...
, who steps in to take over the role of the Father Christmas-like Hogfather. The DVD of that miniseries, released shortly after his death, opens with a dedication to his memory.
He was also familiar to American television viewers as the man in the Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (car)
This a list of Rolls-Royce motor cars and includes vehicles produced by:*Rolls-Royce Limited *Rolls-Royce Motors , which was owned by Vickers between 1980 and 1998, and after that by Volkswagen...
who asks "Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon
Grey Poupon
Grey Poupon is a brand of Dijon mustard in the U.S.The brand of Dijon-style mustard was originally owned and marketed in the U.S. by the Heublein Company and now owned and manufactured by Kraft Foods. Like other Dijon mustards, Grey Poupon contains a small amount of white wine. It is made with...
?" in commercials for this Dijon mustard. During the last fifteen years of his life Richardson appeared five times on television acting opposite his son, Miles Richardson
Miles Richardson
Miles Richardson is a British actor.He was born on 15 July 1963 in Battersea, London to parents Ian Richardson and Maroussia Frank , both founder members of the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, though this was usually with one or other in a minor role. In ITV's Marple, an uncredited Miles played Ian Richardson's son.
Death
Ian Richardson died in his sleep of a heart attack on the morning of 9 February 2007, aged 72. According to his agent, he had not been ill and had in fact been due to start filming an episode of Midsomer MurdersMidsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders is a British television detective drama that has aired on ITV since 1997. The show is based on the books by Caroline Graham, as originally adapted by Anthony Horowitz. The lead character is DCI Tom Barnaby who works for Causton CID. When Nettles left the show in 2011 he was...
the following week. He was survived by his wife, Maroussia Frank, an actress, and two sons, one of whom, Miles
Miles Richardson
Miles Richardson is a British actor.He was born on 15 July 1963 in Battersea, London to parents Ian Richardson and Maroussia Frank , both founder members of the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, is an actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
. His widow and his son Miles placed his ashes in the foundations of the auditorium of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre is a 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the British playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is located in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon - Shakespeare's birthplace - in the English Midlands, beside the River Avon...
in Stratford during its renovations in 2008.
Dame Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
dedicated her 2006 Best Actress BAFTA award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
in the film The Queen
The Queen (film)
The Queen is a 2006 British drama film directed by Stephen Frears, written by Peter Morgan, and starring Helen Mirren as the title role, HM Queen Elizabeth II...
to Ian Richardson. While conducting her acceptance speech, she said that without his support early in her career she might not have been so successful, before breaking down and leaving the stage.
Selected filmography
- King of the WindKing of the Wind (film)King of the Wind is a 1989 British adventure film directed by Peter Duffell and starring Richard Harris, Glenda Jackson and Frank Finlay. It is based on the novel King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry. The film depicts the life of an Arab colt in eighteenth century Britain.-Cast:* Richard Harris ......
(1989) - The Year Of The CometYear of the CometYear of the Comet is a 1992 romantic comedy adventure film about the pursuit of the most valuable bottle of wine in history. The title refers to the year it was bottled, 1811, which was known for the Great Comet of 1811, and also as one of the best years in history for European wine...
(1992) - Words Upon the Window PaneWords Upon the Window PaneWords Upon the Window Pane is a 1994 Irish drama film and the directorial debut of Mary McGuckian. The film is based on William Butler Yeats' one-act play of the same name. Pat O'Connor was billed to direct the project but he personally offered McGuckian, who was writing the screenplay at the...
(1994) - The Treasure SeekersThe Treasure Seekers (1996 film)The Treasure Seekers is a 1996 British television family film directed by Juliet May and starring Camilla Power, Felicity Jones and Kristopher Milnes. In Edwardian England, a family have only a few days to raise enough money to stop their home being repossessed. It is based on the novel The Story...
(1996)