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{{short description|English actor (1902–1983)}}
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[[File:Ralph Richardson.JPG|thumb|250px|alt=head and shoulders image of middle-aged man, slightly balding, with moustache|Richardson in 1949]]
'''Sir Ralph David Richardson''' (19 December 1902&nbsp;– 10 October 1983) was an English actor who, with [[John Gielgud]] and [[Laurence Olivier]], was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He worked in films throughout most of his career, and played more than sixty cinema roles. From an artistic but not theatrical background, Richardson had no<!-- this is correct, please don't change to "not thought" --> thought of a stage career until a production of ''[[Hamlet]]'' in [[Brighton]] inspired him to become an actor. He learned his craft in the 1920s with a touring company and later the [[Birmingham Repertory Theatre]]. In 1931 he joined the [[The Old Vic|Old Vic]], playing mostly [[Shakespeare]]an roles. He led the company the following season, succeeding Gielgud, who had taught him much about stage technique. After he left the company, a series of leading roles took him to stardom in the [[West End theatre|West End]] and on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]].

In the 1940s, together with Olivier and [[John Burrell (theatre director)|John Burrell]], Richardson was the co-director of the Old Vic company. There, his most celebrated roles included [[Peer Gynt]] and [[Falstaff]]. He and Olivier led the company to Europe and Broadway in 1945 and 1946, before their success provoked resentment among the governing board of the Old Vic, leading to their dismissal from the company in 1947. In the 1950s, in the West End and occasionally on tour, Richardson played in modern and classic works including ''[[The Heiress (1947 play)|The Heiress]]'', ''[[Home at Seven (play)|Home at Seven]]'', and ''[[Three Sisters (play)|Three Sisters]]''. He continued on stage and in films until shortly before his sudden death at the age of eighty. He was celebrated in later years for his work with [[Peter Hall (director)|Peter Hall]]'s [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]] and his frequent stage partnership with Gielgud. He was not known for his portrayal of the great tragic roles in the classics, preferring character parts in old and new plays.

Richardson's film career began as an extra in 1931. He was soon cast in leading roles in British and American films including ''[[Things to Come]]'' (1936), ''[[The Fallen Idol (film)|The Fallen Idol]]'' (1948), ''[[Long Day's Journey into Night (1962 film)|Long Day's Journey into Night]]'' (1962) and ''[[Doctor Zhivago (film)|Doctor Zhivago]]'' (1965). He received nominations and awards in the UK, Europe and the US for his stage and screen work from 1948 until his death. Richardson was twice nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor]], first for ''[[The Heiress (film)|The Heiress]]'' (1949) and again (posthumously) for his final film, ''[[Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes]]'' (1984).

Throughout his career, and increasingly in later years, Richardson was known for his eccentric behaviour on and off stage. He was often seen as detached from conventional ways of looking at the world, and his acting was regularly described as poetic or magical.

==Life and career==
{{main_list|List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson}}

===Early years===
Richardson was born in [[Cheltenham]], Gloucestershire, the third son and youngest child of Arthur Richardson and his wife Lydia ({{nee|Russell}}) on 19 December 1902.<ref name=dnb /> The couple had met while both were in Paris, studying with the painter [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]].<ref name=o16>O'Connor, p. 16</ref> Arthur Richardson had been senior art master at [[Cheltenham Ladies' College]] from 1893.<ref>O'Connor, p. 17</ref>
{{Quote box |bgcolor=#DCD|salign=right| quote =She eloped with me, then aged four.|source=Richardson on his mother's<br />breakup of the family<ref>O'Connor, p. 20</ref>|align=right| width=225px}}
In 1907 the family split up; there was no divorce or formal separation, but the two elder boys, Christopher and Ambrose, remained with their father and Lydia left them, taking Ralph with her. The ostensible cause of the couple's separation was a row over Lydia's choice of wallpaper for her husband's study. According to John Miller's biography, whatever underlying causes there may have been are unknown.<ref name=m8/> An earlier biographer, [[Garry O'Connor (writer)|Garry O'Connor]], speculates that Arthur Richardson might have been having an extramarital affair.<ref>O'Connor, pp. 20–21</ref> There does not seem to have been a religious element, although Arthur was a dedicated [[Quaker]], whose first two sons were brought up in that faith, whereas Lydia was a devout convert to [[Roman Catholic]]ism, in which she raised Ralph.<ref name=m8>Miller, pp. 7–8</ref> Mother and son had a variety of homes, the first of which was a bungalow converted from two railway carriages in [[Shoreham-by-Sea]] on the south coast of England.<ref name=dnb>Morley, Sheridan, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31607 "Richardson, Sir Ralph David (1902–1983)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, January 2011, retrieved 13 January 2014 {{ODNBsub}}</ref>

Lydia wanted Richardson to become a priest.<ref name=dnb/> In [[Brighton]] he served as an [[Altar server#Altar servers in the Catholic Church|altar boy]], which he enjoyed,{{#tag:ref|O'Connor comments that a youthful taste for ritual was common to Richardson and his two great contemporaries, [[John Gielgud]] and [[Laurence Olivier]], the former from attending the [[Brompton Oratory]] and the latter from his days at the [[High Anglican]] choir school of [[All Saints, Margaret Street]].<ref name=o24>O'Connor, p. 24</ref>|group= n}} but when sent at about fifteen to the nearby Xaverian College, a seminary for trainee priests, he ran away.<ref name=rituals/> As a pupil at a series of schools he was uninterested in most subjects and was an indifferent scholar. His Latin was poor, and during church services he would improvise parts of the Latin responses, developing a talent for invention when memory failed that proved useful in his later career.<ref>Miller, p. 10</ref>

{{Quote box |bgcolor=#DCD|salign=right| quote =I was too lazy to be a painter{{space}}... I hadn't the persistency – but then I hadn't got very much talent.|source=Richardson on his<br />time at art school<ref>O'Connor, p. 27</ref>|align=left| width=200px}}
In 1919, aged sixteen, Richardson took a post as office boy with the Brighton branch of the [[Liverpool Victoria]] insurance company.<ref name=o26/> The pay, ten [[shilling]]s a week, was attractive, but office life was not; he lacked concentration, frequently posting documents to the wrong people as well as engaging in pranks that alarmed his superiors.<ref name=o26>O'Connor, p. 26</ref>{{#tag:ref|Miller cites an occasion when Richardson climbed the façade of the building and entered the office through the window of an upper floor, horrifying his employer at the danger he had risked.|group= n}} His paternal grandmother died and left him £500, which, he later said, transformed his life.<ref name=m15>Miller, p. 15</ref> He resigned from the office post, just in time to avoid being dismissed,<ref name=h15>Hobson, p. 15</ref> and enrolled at the [[Brighton School of Art]]. His studies there convinced him that he lacked creativity, and that his drawing skills were not good enough.<ref name=m15/>

Richardson left the art school in 1920, and considered how else he might make a career. He briefly thought of pharmacy and then of journalism, abandoning each when he learned how much study the former required and how difficult mastering shorthand for the latter would be.<ref>O'Connor, p. 29</ref> He was still unsure what to do, when he saw [[Frank Benson (actor)|Sir Frank Benson]] as [[Prince Hamlet|Hamlet]] in a touring production. He was thrilled, and felt at once that he must become an actor.<ref>O'Connor, p. 31</ref>

Buttressed by what was left of the legacy from his grandmother, Richardson determined to learn to act. He paid a local theatrical manager, Frank R. Growcott, ten shillings a week to take him as a member of his company and to teach him the craft of an actor.<ref name=timesobit>Obituary, ''The Times'', 11 October 1983, p. 14</ref>{{#tag:ref|According to Hobson and Morley the weekly payment to Growcott was £1. O'Connor and Miller give the smaller sum.<ref>Hobson, p. 15; Morley pp. 326–327; O'Connor, p. 34; and Miller, p. 18</ref>|group= n}} He made his stage debut in December 1920 with Growcott's St Nicholas Players at the St Nicholas Hall, Brighton, a converted bacon factory.<ref name=h15/> He played a [[Gendarmerie|gendarme]] in an adaptation of ''[[Les Misérables]]'' and was soon entrusted with larger parts, including [[Banquo]] in ''[[Macbeth]]'' and [[Malvolio]] in ''[[Twelfth Night]]''.<ref name=roles/>

===Early career===
{{Hatnote|Details of Richardson's work, 1921–29: [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrS21|Stage]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrR21|Radio]]}}
The heyday of the touring [[actor-manager]] was nearing its end but some companies still flourished. As well as Benson's, there were those of [[John Martin-Harvey|Sir John Martin-Harvey]], [[Ben Greet]], and, only slightly less prestigious, [[Charles Doran]].{{#tag:ref|Doran had been a member of Benson's company for twenty years before setting up on his own account in 1920.<ref>[http://shakespeare.emory.edu/actordisplay.cfm?actorid=269 "Frank Doran"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201212556/http://shakespeare.emory.edu/actordisplay.cfm?actorid=269 |date=1 February 2014 }}, Shakespeare and the Players, retrieved 13 January 2014</ref> He had a keen eye for rising talent, and among his recruits were [[Cecil Parker]], [[Edith Sharpe]], [[Norman Shelley]], [[Abraham Sofaer]], [[Francis L. Sullivan|Francis{{space}}L Sullivan]] and [[Donald Wolfit]].<ref>Trewin, J C. "A man of many parts", ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'', 25 December 1982, p. 61; and Hobson, p. 11</ref>|group= n}} Richardson wrote to all four managers: the first two did not reply; Greet saw him but had no vacancy; Doran engaged him, at a wage of £3 a week.<ref>Miller, pp. 20–21</ref> Richardson made his first appearance as a professional actor at the Marina Theatre, [[Lowestoft]], in August 1921, as Lorenzo in ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]''.<ref name=roles>List of roles in Tanitch, pp. 122–125; and Miller, pp. 357–366</ref> He remained with Doran's company for most of the next two years, gradually gaining more important roles, including Banquo in ''Macbeth'' and Mark Antony in ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]''.<ref name=roles/>

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Doran's company specialised in the classics, principally [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]. After two years of period costumes Richardson felt the urge to act in a modern work.<ref>Miller, p. 24</ref> He left Doran in 1923 and toured in a new play, ''[[Outward Bound (play)|Outward Bound]]'' by [[Sutton Vane]]. He returned to the classics in August 1924, in [[Nigel Playfair]]'s touring production of ''[[The Way of the World]]'', playing Fainall.<ref name=roles/> While on that tour he married Muriel Hewitt, a young member of Doran's company, known to him as "Kit".<ref>Miller, p. 25</ref> To his great happiness, the two were able to work together for most of 1925, both being engaged by [[Barry Jackson (director)|Sir Barry Jackson]] of the [[Birmingham Repertory Theatre]] for a touring production of ''[[The Farmer's Wife (play)|The Farmer's Wife]]''. From December of that year they were members of the main repertory company in Birmingham.<ref>Miller, p. 26</ref> Through Jackson's chief director, the veteran taskmaster [[H. K. Ayliff]], Richardson "absorbed the influence of older contemporaries like [[Gerald du Maurier]], [[Charles Hawtrey (actor born 1858)|Charles Hawtrey]] and [[Mrs. Patrick Campbell|Mrs Patrick Campbell]]."<ref name=guardianobit>Obituary, ''[[The Guardian]]'', 11 October 1983, p. 11</ref> Hewitt was seen as a rising star but Richardson's talents were not yet so apparent;<ref name=m327>Morley, p. 327</ref> he was allotted supporting roles such as Lane in ''[[The Importance of Being Earnest]]'' and Albert Prossor in ''[[Hobson's Choice (play)|Hobson's Choice]]''.<ref name=roles/>

Richardson made his London debut in July 1926 as the stranger in ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]'' in a Sunday-night performance at the [[Scala Theatre]], with a cast including [[Percy Walsh]], [[John Laurie]] and [[D. A. Clarke-Smith]].<ref>"The Greek Play Society", ''The Times'', 13 July 1926, p. 12</ref> He then toured for three months in [[Eden Phillpotts]]'s comedy ''Devonshire Cream'' with Jackson's company led by [[Cedric Hardwicke]].<ref>"Princes Theatre: Devonshire Cream", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 24 August 1926, p. 11</ref>

When Phillpotts's next comedy, ''Yellow Sands'', was to be mounted at the [[Haymarket Theatre]] in the [[West End theatre|West End]], Richardson and his wife were both cast in good roles. The play opened in November 1926 and ran until September 1928; with 610 performances it was the longest London run of Richardson's entire career.<ref name=m327/><ref name=whoswho>[http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U168526 "Richardson, Sir Ralph David"], ''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007, retrieved 16 December 2008. {{subscription}}</ref> During the run Muriel Hewitt began to show early symptoms of [[encephalitis lethargica]], a progressive and ultimately fatal illness.<ref>O'Connor, pp. 56, 58–59</ref>

[[File:Peggy-Ashcroft-1936-2.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Peggy Ashcroft]] in 1936, near the beginning of her long professional association with Richardson]]
Richardson left the run of ''Yellow Sands'' in March 1928 and rejoined Ayliff, playing Pygmalion in ''[[Back to Methuselah]]'' at the [[Royal Court Theatre]]; also in the cast was a former colleague from the Birmingham Repertory, [[Laurence Olivier]].<ref>Clough, p. 52</ref> The critics began to notice Richardson and he gained some favourable reviews.{{#tag:ref|Horace Horsnell of ''The Observer'' wrote of "a stroke of something like genius" in Richardson's performance in ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]'', "and the idiosyncrasy that so refreshed the character was so cleverly sustained that one felt that Shakespeare would have enjoyed it too."<ref>Hobson, p. 31</ref> [[St. John Greer Ervine|St John Ervine]], who disliked modern-dress productions of Shakespeare, nevertheless praised both the Richardsons.<ref>Ervine, St John. "At the Play", ''The Observer'', 6 May 1928, p. 15</ref>|group= n}} As Tranio in Ayliff's modern-dress production of ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]'', Richardson played the character as a breezy [[cockney]],{{#tag:ref|Cockney according to the contemporary critics, though Richardson later said that he had been playing the part as an "outrageous Australian";<ref name=m33>Miller, p. 33</ref> accents were not his strongest suit.<ref>O'Connor, p. 60</ref>|group= n}} winning praise for turning a usually dreary role into something richly entertaining.<ref name=m327/> For the rest of 1928 he appeared in what Miller describes as several unremarkable modern plays.<ref name=m33/> For much of 1929 he toured South Africa in [[Gerald Lawrence]]'s company in three period costume plays, including ''[[The School for Scandal]]'', in which he played Joseph Surface.<ref name=roles/> The sole venture into [[musical comedy]] of his career was in ''Silver Wings'' in the West End and on tour. It was not a personal triumph; the director's final injunction to the company was, "For God's sake don't let Richardson sing".<ref name=m33/> In May 1930 Richardson was given the role of Roderigo in ''[[Othello]]'' in what seemed likely to be a prestigious production, with [[Paul Robeson]] in the title role. The biographer [[Ronald Hayman]] writes that though a fine singer, "Robeson had no ear for blank verse" and even [[Peggy Ashcroft]]'s superb performance as Desdemona was not enough to save the production from failure.<ref>Gielgud (2000), p. 157; and Hayman, p. 63</ref> Ashcroft's notices were laudatory, while Richardson's were mixed; they admired each other and worked together frequently during the next four decades.<ref>Miller, p. 34</ref>

===Old Vic, 1930–32===
{{Hatnote|Details of Richardson's work, 1930–32: [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrS30|Stage]]}}
[[File:Old Vic0185.JPG|thumb|alt=external view of front of Victorian theatre|right|The [[The Old Vic|Old Vic]] (photographed in 2012)]]
In 1930 Richardson, with some misgivings, accepted an invitation to join [[The Old Vic]] company. The theatre, in an unfashionable location south of the [[River Thames|Thames]], had offered inexpensive tickets for opera and drama under its proprietor [[Lilian Baylis]] since 1912. Its profile had been raised considerably by Baylis's producer, [[Harcourt Williams]], who in 1929 persuaded the young West End star [[John Gielgud]] to lead the drama company. For the following season Williams wanted Richardson to join, with a view to succeeding Gielgud from 1931 to 1932. Richardson agreed, though he was not sure of his own suitability for a mainly Shakespearean repertoire, and was not enthusiastic about working with Gielgud: "I found his clothes extravagant, I found his conversation flippant. He was the New Young Man of his time and I didn't like him."<ref name=h67/>

The first production of the season was ''[[Henry IV, Part 1]]'', with Gielgud as Hotspur and Richardson as Prince Hal; the latter was thought by ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' "vivacious, but a figure of modern comedy rather than Shakespeare."<ref name=m327/> Richardson's notices, and the relationship of the two leading men, improved markedly when Gielgud, who was playing [[Prospero]], helped Richardson with his performance as [[Caliban]] in ''[[The Tempest]]'':
{{blockquote|He gave me about two hundred ideas, as he usually does, twenty-five of which I eagerly seized on, and when I went away I thought, "This chap, you know, I don't like him very much but by God he knows something about this here play."{{space}}... And then out of that we formed a friendship.<ref name=h67>Hayman, p. 67</ref>|}}
The friendship and professional association lasted until the end of Richardson's life. Gielgud wrote in 1983, "Besides cherishing our long years of work together in the theatre, where he was such an inspiring and generous partner, I grew to love him in private life as a great gentleman, a rare spirit, fair and balanced, devotedly loyal and tolerant and, as a companion, bursting with vitality, curiosity and humour."<ref>Gielgud, John. "A great gentleman, a rare spirit", ''The Observer'', 16 October 1983, p. 9</ref> Among Richardson's other parts in his first Old Vic season, Enobarbus in ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]'' gained particularly good notices. ''[[The Morning Post]]'' commented that it placed him in the first rank of Shakespearean actors.<ref name=m327/> At the beginning of 1931 Baylis re-opened [[Sadler's Wells Theatre]] with a production of ''Twelfth Night'' starring Gielgud as Malvolio and Richardson as [[Toby Belch|Sir Toby Belch]]. [[William Aubrey Darlington|W. A. Darlington]] in ''The Daily Telegraph'' wrote of Richardson's "ripe, rich and mellow Sir Toby, [which] I would go many miles to see again."<ref>Miller, p. 40</ref>

During the summer break between the Old Vic 1930–31 and 1931–32 seasons, Richardson played at the [[Festival Theatre, Malvern|Malvern Festival]], under the direction of his old Birmingham director, Ayliff.<ref name=roles/> Salaries at the Old Vic and the Festival were not large, and Richardson was glad of a job as an extra in the 1931 film ''[[Dreyfus (1931 film)|Dreyfus]]''.<ref>Miller, p. 62</ref> As his wife's condition worsened he needed to pay for more and more nursing; she was looked after in a succession of hospitals and care homes.<ref>O'Connor, p. 59</ref>

Succeeding Gielgud as leading man at the Old Vic, Richardson had a varied season, in which there were conspicuous successes interspersed with critical failures. [[James Agate]] was not convinced by him as the domineering [[Petruchio]] in ''The Taming of the Shrew''; in ''Julius Caesar'' the whole cast received tepid reviews.<ref>"The Old Vic", ''The Times'', 26 January 1932, p. 10; and Miller, p. 47</ref> In ''Othello'' Richardson divided the critics. He emphasised the plausible charm of the murderous [[Iago]] to a degree that Agate thought "very good Richardson, but indifferent Shakespeare",<ref>Agate (1934), p. 87</ref> whereas ''[[The Times]]'' said, "He never stalked or hissed like a plain villain, and, in fact, we have seldom seen a man smile and smile and be a villain so adequately."<ref>"The Old Vic", ''The Times'', 9 March 1932, p. 10</ref> His biggest success of the season was as [[Nick Bottom|Bottom]] in ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]''. Both Agate and Darlington commented on how the actor transformed the character from the bumbling workman to the magically changed creature on whom [[Titania (A Midsummer Night's Dream)|Titania]] dotes. Agate wrote that most of those who had played the part hitherto "seem to have thought Bottom, with the ass's head on, was the same Bottom, only funnier. Shakespeare says he was 'translated', and Mr Richardson translated him."<ref>Hobson, p. 39</ref> With [[Sybil Thorndike]] as a guest star and Richardson as Ralph, ''[[The Knight of the Burning Pestle]]'' was a hit with audiences and critics,<ref>"The Old Vic", ''The Times'', 5 January 1932, p. 10; "The Grocer's Boy", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 6 January 1932, p. 8; and [[Ivor Brown|Brown, Ivor]], "The Week's Theatres", ''The Observer'', 10 January 1932, p. 11</ref> as was a revival of ''Twelfth Night'', with [[Edith Evans]] as Viola and Richardson again playing Sir Toby, finishing the season to renewed praise.<ref>"The Old Vic", ''The Times'', 30 March 1932, p. 8; "Twelfth Night", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 30 March 1932, p. 11; and Brown, Ivor, "Old Vic – Twelfth Night", ''The Observer'', 3 April 1932, p. 14</ref>

===West End and Broadway===
{{Hatnote|Details of Richardson's work, 1932–44: [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrS32|Stage]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrR32|Radio]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrF32|Film]]}}
Richardson returned to the Malvern Festival in August 1932. He was in four plays, the last of which, [[George Bernard Shaw|Bernard Shaw]]'s ''[[Too True to Be Good]]'', transferred to the [[Noël Coward Theatre|New Theatre]] in London the following month. The play was not liked by audiences and ran for only forty-seven performances, but Richardson, in Agate's phrase, "ran away with the piece", and established himself as a West End star.<ref>Miller, p. 52</ref> In 1933 he had his first speaking part in a film, playing the villain, Nigel Hartley, in ''[[The Ghoul (1933 film)|The Ghoul]]'', which starred Cedric Hardwicke and [[Boris Karloff]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120712174940/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b71e71222 "The Ghoul"], British Film Institute, retrieved 18 January 2014</ref> The following year he was cast in his first starring role in a film, as the hero in ''[[The Return of Bulldog Drummond]]''.<ref name=roles/> ''The Times'' commented, "Mr Ralph Richardson makes [[Bulldog Drummond|Drummond]] as brave and stupid on the screen as he is in print."<ref>"New films in London", ''The Times'', 30 April 1934, p. 12</ref>{{#tag:ref|''The Observer''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s review of the film read, ''in toto'', "Hollywood is reported to be anxious because this B.I.P. production, with Ralph Richardson, has forestalled their own new Bulldog Drummond picture, with Ronald Colman. Hollywood need not worry."<ref>"Some new films of the week", ''The Observer'', 29 April 1934, p. 24</ref> Richardson returned to the Bulldog Drummond series in a different role in the 1935 film ''[[Bulldog Jack]]''.<ref name=NYT>{{cite web|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=Bulldog Jack (1935) The Screen; 'Alias Bulldog Drummond', a Comic Melodrama From England, Opens at the Globe Theatre|first=Andre|last=Sennwald|date=10 September 1935|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E01E7DA1E3DE53ABC4852DFBF66838E629EDE}}</ref>|group= n}}

[[File:Katharine Cornell.jpg|thumb|alt=Head and shoulders shot of youngish woman|upright|[[Katharine Cornell]], leading lady in Richardson's [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] debut]]

Over the next two years Richardson appeared in six plays in London ranging from ''[[Peter and Wendy|Peter Pan]]'' (as Mr Darling and Captain Hook) to ''Cornelius'', an allegorical play written for and dedicated to him by [[J. B. Priestley|J.{{space}}B.{{space}}Priestley]].<ref>O'Connor, pp. 42 and 74</ref> ''Cornelius'' ran for two months; this was less than expected, and left Richardson with a gap in engagements in the second half of 1935. He filled it by accepting an invitation from [[Katharine Cornell]] and [[Guthrie McClintic]] to play Mercutio in their production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' on a US tour and on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]. Romeo was played by [[Maurice Evans (actor)|Maurice Evans]] and Juliet by Cornell.<ref>[https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F17F73C5A107A93C6AB1789D95F418385F9 "Romeo and Juliet"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 24 December 1935, p. 10</ref> Richardson's performance greatly impressed American critics, and Cornell invited him to return to New York to co-star with her in ''Macbeth'' and ''Antony and Cleopatra'',<ref>"The Theatres", ''The Times'', 13 January 1936, p. 10</ref> though nothing came of this.<ref name=roles/>

In 1936, [[London Films]] released ''[[Things to Come]]'', in which Richardson played the swaggering warlord "The Boss". His performance parodied the Italian dictator [[Benito Mussolini]] so effectively that the film was immediately banned in Italy.<ref>Kulik, p. 153</ref> The producer was [[Alexander Korda]]; the two men formed a long and mutually beneficial friendship. Richardson later said of Korda, "Though not so very much older than I am, I regarded him in a way as a father, and to me he was as generous as a prince."<ref>Kulik, p. 163</ref> In May 1936 Richardson and Olivier jointly directed and starred in a new piece by Priestley, ''[[Bees on the Boatdeck]]''. Both actors won excellent notices, but the play, an allegory of Britain's decline, did not attract the public.<ref>Hobson, p. 51</ref> It closed after four weeks, the last in a succession of West End productions in which Richardson appeared to much acclaim but which were box-office failures.<ref>O'Connor, p. 80; and Morley, p. 328</ref> In August of the same year he finally had a long-running star part, the title role in [[Barré Lyndon]]'s [[comedy thriller]], ''[[The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (play)|The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse]]'', which played for 492 performances, closing in October 1937.<ref>"Theatres", ''The Times'', 16 October 1937, p. 10</ref>

After a short run in ''The Silent Knight'', described by Miller as "a Hungarian fantasy in rhymed verse set in the fifteenth century", Richardson returned to the Old Vic for the 1937–38 season, playing Bottom once again and switching parts in ''Othello'', playing the title role, with Olivier as Iago. The director, [[Tyrone Guthrie]], wanted to experiment with the theory that Iago's villainy is driven by suppressed homosexual love for Othello. Olivier was willing to co-operate, but Richardson was not; audiences and most critics failed to spot the supposed motivation of Olivier's Iago, and Richardson's Othello seemed underpowered.<ref>Neill, p. 78</ref> O'Connor believes that Richardson did not succeed with Othello or Macbeth because of the characters' single-minded "blind driving passion – too extreme, too inhuman", which was incomprehensible and alien to him. It was for the same reason, in O'Connor's view, that he never attempted the title roles in ''Hamlet'' or ''[[King Lear]]''.<ref>O'Connor, p. 173</ref>

Richardson made his television debut in January 1939, reprising his 1936 stage role of the chief engineer in ''Bees on the Boatdeck''.<ref>"Broadcasting", ''The Times'', 23 January 1939, p. 19</ref> His last stage part in the 1930s was Robert Johnson, an [[Everyman]] figure, in Priestley's ''Johnson Over Jordan'' directed by [[Basil Dean]].<ref>Clough, p. 139</ref> It was an experimental piece, using music (by [[Benjamin Britten]]) and dance as well as dialogue, and was another production in which Richardson was widely praised but that did not prosper at the box-office. After it closed, in May 1939, he did not act on stage for more than five years.<ref name=m328>Morley, p. 328</ref>

====Second World War====
At the outbreak of war Richardson joined the [[Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve]] as a [[sub-lieutenant]] pilot. He had taken flying lessons during the 1930s and had logged 200 hours of flying time, but, though a notoriously reckless driver, he admitted to being a timid pilot.<ref>Clough, p. 114; and Gielgud (2000), p. 136</ref><ref name=m77/> He counted himself lucky to have been accepted, but the [[Fleet Air Arm]] was short of pilots.<ref name=m77>Miller, pp. 77–78</ref> He rose to the rank of [[lieutenant-commander]]. His work was mostly routine administration, probably because of "the large number of planes which seemed to fall to pieces under his control", through which he acquired the nickname "[[RAF slang#P|Pranger]]" Richardson.<ref name=dnb/> He served at several bases in the south of England, and in April 1941, at the [[RNAS Lee-on-Solent (HMS Daedalus)|Royal Naval Air Station, Lee-on-Solent]], he was able to welcome Olivier, newly commissioned as a temporary sub-lieutenant. Olivier rapidly eclipsed Richardson's record for pranging.<ref>Miller, p. 79</ref>

In 1942, on his way to visit his wife at the cottage where she was cared for by a devoted couple, Richardson crashed his motor-bike and was in hospital for several weeks. Kit was at that point mobile enough to visit him, but later in the year her condition worsened and in October she died. He was intensely lonely, though the camaraderie of naval life was some comfort.<ref name=m83/> In 1944 he married again. His second wife was the actress [[Meriel Forbes]], a member of the [[Johnston Forbes-Robertson|Forbes-Robertson]] theatrical family.<ref name=m83>Miller, pp. 83–84</ref> The marriage brought him lifelong happiness and a son, Charles (1945–98), who became a television stage manager.<ref name=dnb/>

During the war Richardson compered occasional morale-boosting shows at the [[Royal Albert Hall]] and elsewhere,<ref>O'Connor, p. 107</ref> and made one short film and three full-length ones, including ''[[The Silver Fleet]]'', in which he played a Dutch Resistance hero, and ''[[The Volunteer (1944 film)|The Volunteer]]'', a propaganda film in which he appeared as himself.<ref name=roles/>

Throughout the war Guthrie had striven to keep the Old Vic company going, even after German bombing in 1942 left the theatre a near-ruin. A small troupe toured the provinces, with Sybil Thorndike at its head. By 1944, with the tide of the war turning, Guthrie felt it time to re-establish the company in a London base, and invited Richardson to head it. Richardson made two stipulations: first, as he was unwilling to seek his own release from the forces, the governing board of the Old Vic should explain to the authorities why it should be granted; secondly, that he should share the acting and management in a triumvirate. Initially he proposed Gielgud and Olivier as his colleagues, but the former declined, saying, "It would be a disaster, you would have to spend your whole time as referee between Larry and me."<ref>Croall, p. 306</ref>{{#tag:ref|Gielgud, like almost everyone in theatrical circles, called Olivier "Larry", but Richardson invariably addressed Olivier as "Laurence". This striking formality did not extend to Gielgud, whom Richardson always called "Johnny".<ref>Miller, p. 32</ref>|group= n}} It was finally agreed that the third member would be the stage director [[John Burrell (theatre director)|John Burrell]]. The Old Vic governors approached the Royal Navy to secure the release of Richardson and Olivier; the [[Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty|Sea Lords]] consented, with, as Olivier put it, "a speediness and lack of reluctance which was positively hurtful."<ref>Holden, p. 184</ref>

===Old Vic, 1944–47===
{{Hatnote|Details of Richardson's work, 1944–47: [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrS44|Stage]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrR44|Radio]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrF44|Film]]}}
The triumvirate secured the New Theatre for their first season and recruited a company. Thorndike was joined by, among others, Harcourt Williams, [[Joyce Redman]] and [[Margaret Leighton]]. It was agreed to open with a repertory of four plays: ''[[Peer Gynt]]'', ''[[Arms and the Man]]'', ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'' and ''[[Uncle Vanya]]''. Richardson's roles were Peer, Bluntschli, Richmond and Vanya; Olivier played the Button Moulder, Sergius, Richard and Astrov.<ref>Gaye, pp. 1030 and 1118</ref> The first three productions met with acclaim from reviewers and audiences; ''Uncle Vanya'' had a mixed reception. ''The Times'' thought Olivier's Astrov "a most distinguished portrait" and Richardson's Vanya "the perfect compound of absurdity and pathos".<ref>"New Theatre", ''The Times'', 17 January 1945, p. 6</ref> Agate, on the other hand, commented, {{"'}}Floored for life, sir, and jolly miserable' is what ''Uncle Vanya'' takes three acts to say. And I just cannot believe in Mr Richardson wallowing in misery: his voice is the wrong colour."<ref>Agate (1946), p. 150</ref> In 1945 the company toured Germany, where they were seen by many thousands of Allied servicemen; they also appeared at the [[Comédie-Française]] theatre in Paris, the first foreign company to be given that honour.<ref>O'Connor, pp. 121–122; and Miller, p. 93</ref> The critic [[Harold Hobson]] wrote that Richardson and Olivier quickly "made the Old Vic the most famous theatre in the Anglo-Saxon world."<ref>Hobson, p. 55</ref>

[[File:Laurence Olivier Allan Warren.jpg|thumb|right|alt=man of mature years, balding, moustached, looking into camera|upright|[[Laurence Olivier]], Richardson's co-director of the Old Vic, photographed in 1972]]
The second season, in 1945, featured two double-bills. The first consisted of ''Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2''. Olivier played the warrior Hotspur in the first and the doddering Justice Shallow in the second.{{#tag:ref|The sources generally refer to the two parts of Henry IV as a double bill, although as full-length plays they were played across two separate evenings.<ref>"Theatres", ''The Times'', 25 September 1945, p. 8</ref>|group= n}} He received good notices, but by general consent the production belonged to Richardson as Falstaff. Agate wrote, "He had everything the part wants – the exuberance, the mischief, the gusto.{{space}}... Here is something better than virtuosity in character-acting – the spirit of the part shining through the actor."<ref>Agate (1946), p. 221</ref> As a teenager, the director [[Peter Hall (director)|Peter Hall]] saw the production; he said fifty years later, "Of the performances I've seen in my life I'm gladdest I saw that."<ref>Miller, p. 95</ref> In the second double bill it was Olivier who dominated, in the title roles of ''[[Oedipus Rex]]'' and ''[[The Critic (play)|The Critic]]''. Richardson took the supporting role of Tiresias in the first, and the silent, cameo part of Lord Burleigh in the second. After the London season the company played both the double-bills and ''Uncle Vanya'' in a six-week season on Broadway.<ref>O'Connor, p. 129</ref>

The third, and final, season under the triumvirate was in 1946–47. Olivier played King Lear, and Richardson, [[Cyrano de Bergerac (play)|Cyrano de Bergerac]]. Olivier would have preferred the roles to be cast the other way about, but Richardson did not wish to attempt Lear. Richardson's other roles in the season were Inspector Goole in ''[[An Inspector Calls]]'', Face in ''[[The Alchemist (play)|The Alchemist]]'' and John of Gaunt in ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'', which he directed, with [[Alec Guinness]] in the title role.<ref>O'Connor, pp. 135 and 137</ref>

During the run of ''Cyrano'', Richardson was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in the [[1947 New Year Honours]], to Olivier's undisguised envy.<ref>O'Connor, p. 141</ref> The younger man received the accolade six months later, by which time the days of the triumvirate were numbered. The high profile of the two star actors did not endear them to the new chairman of the Old Vic governors, [[Oliver Sylvain Baliol Brett, 3rd Viscount Esher|Lord Esher]]. He had ambitions to be the first head of the National Theatre and had no intention of letting actors run it.<ref>O'Connor, pp. 149–153</ref> He was encouraged by Guthrie, who, having instigated the appointment of Richardson and Olivier, had come to resent their knighthoods and international fame.<ref>Miller, p. 126</ref> Esher terminated their contracts while both were out of the country, and they and Burrell were said to have "resigned".<ref>Miller, pp. 124 and 128</ref>

Looking back in 1971, [[Bernard Levin]] wrote that the Old Vic company of 1944 to 1947 "was probably the most illustrious that has ever been assembled in this country".<ref>Levin, Bernard, "Tears and gin with the Old Vic", ''The Times'', 16 February 1971, p. 12</ref> ''The Times'' said that the triumvirate's years were the greatest in the Old Vic's history;<ref name=timesobit/> as ''[[The Guardian]]'' put it, "the governors summarily sacked them in the interests of a more mediocre company spirit".<ref name=guardianobit/>

===International fame===
{{Hatnote|Details of Richardson's work, 1948–59: [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrS48|Stage]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrR48|Radio]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrF48|Film]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrTV48|Television]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrA48|Accolades]]}}
For Richardson, parting company with the Old Vic brought the advantage of being free, for the first time, to earn substantial pay. The company's highest salary had been £40 a week.<ref>Miller, p. 123</ref> After his final Old Vic season he made two films in quick succession for Korda. The first, ''[[Anna Karenina (1948 film)|Anna Karenina]]'', with [[Vivien Leigh]], was an expensive failure, although Richardson's notices in the role of Karenin were excellent.<ref>Miller, p. 118</ref> The second, ''[[The Fallen Idol (film)|The Fallen Idol]]'', had notable commercial and critical success, and won awards in Europe and America. It remained one of Richardson's favourites of his films.<ref name=m119>Miller, p.&nbsp;119</ref> In Miller's words, "[[Carol Reed]]'s sensitive direction drew faultless performances not just from Ralph as Baines (the butler and mistakenly suspected murderer), but also from [[Michèle Morgan]] as his mistress, [[Sonia Dresdel]] as his cold-hearted wife, and especially from [[Bobby Henrey]] as the distraught boy, Philippe."<ref name=m119/>

Richardson had gained a national reputation as a great actor while at the Old Vic;<ref>Brown, Ivor. "Come Fly With Me" , ''The Observer'', 27 October 1946, p. 2</ref> films gave him the opportunity to reach an international audience. Unlike some of his theatre colleagues, he was never condescending about film work.{{#tag:ref|Olivier, though he later became a Hollywood star, dismissed film in the 1930s as "this anaemic little medium which could not stand great acting".<ref>Croall, p. 192</ref> Gielgud said of a 1933 film role, "[It] appals my soul but appeals to my pocket."<ref>Gielgud (2004), p. 16</ref>|group= n}} He admitted that film could be "a cage for an actor, but a cage in which they sometimes put a little gold", but he did not regard filming as merely a means of subsidising his much less profitable stage work.<ref>Miller, p. 66</ref> He said, "I've never been one of those chaps who scoff at films. I think they're a marvellous medium, and are to the stage what engravings are to painting. The theatre may give you big chances, but the cinema teaches you the details of craftsmanship."<ref>Miller, p. 132</ref> ''The Fallen Idol'' was followed by Richardson's first [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] part. He played Dr Sloper, the overprotective father of [[Olivia de Havilland]] in ''[[The Heiress (film)|The Heiress]]'', based on [[Henry James]]'s novel ''[[Washington Square (novel)|Washington Square]]''. The film did not prosper at the box-office despite good reviews, an [[Academy Award for Best Actress]] for Havilland, and nominations for the director ([[William Wyler]]) and Richardson.<ref>Sinyard, p. 120; and [http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp;jsessionid=4AE3827810C74DBEAAEB76BC51A5997A?curTime=1390259188433 "The Heiress"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201144413/http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp%3Bjsessionid%3D4AE3827810C74DBEAAEB76BC51A5997A?curTime=1390259188433 |date=1 February 2014 }}, Academy Awards, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, retrieved 21 January 2014</ref>

[[File:Peggy Ashcroft 1962c.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=youngish woman in headscarf, smiling towards the camera|[[Peggy Ashcroft]], with whom Richardson frequently co-starred]]
''The Heiress'' had been a Broadway play before it was a film. Richardson so liked his part that he decided to play it in the West End, with Ashcroft as Sloper's daughter Catherine. The piece was to open in February 1949 at Richardson's favourite theatre, the Haymarket. Rehearsals were chaotic. Burrell, whom Richardson had asked to direct, was not up to the task – possibly, Miller speculates, because of nervous exhaustion from the recent traumas at the Old Vic.<ref name=m130>Miller, pp. 130–132</ref> With only a week to go before the first performance, the producer, [[Binkie Beaumont]], asked him to stand down, and Gielgud was recruited in his place.{{#tag:ref|This was the end of Burrell's theatrical career in Britain. He emigrated to the US, where he became an academic, with only occasional directing jobs. His final post was professor of drama at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign|University of Illinois]].<ref>
[[Alex Jennings|Jennings, Alex]], [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/61046 "Burrell, John Percy (1910–1972)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, retrieved 21 January 2014 {{ODNBsub}}</ref>|group= n}} Matters improved astonishingly;<ref name=m130/> the production was a complete success and ran in London for 644 performances.<ref>Gaye, p. 1526</ref>{{#tag:ref|Richardson and Ashcroft left the cast in January 1950, and were replaced for the rest of the run by [[Godfrey Tearle]] and [[Wendy Hiller]].<ref>"The Theatres", ''The Times'', 19 December 1949, p. 7, and 18 August 1950, p. 2</ref>
|group= n}}

After one long run in ''The Heiress'', Richardson appeared in another, [[R. C. Sherriff|R.{{space}}C.{{space}}Sherriff]]'s ''[[Home at Seven (play)|Home at Seven]]'', in 1950. He played an amnesiac bank clerk who fears he may have committed murder. He later recreated the part in a radio broadcast, and in [[Home at Seven (film)|a film version]], which was his sole venture into direction for the screen.<ref>Miller, pp. 142–144</ref> Once he had played himself into a role in a long run, Richardson felt able to work during the daytime in films, and made two others in the early 1950s beside the film of the Sherriff piece: ''[[Outcast of the Islands]]'', directed by Carol Reed, and [[David Lean]]'s ''[[The Sound Barrier]]'', released in 1951 and 1952 respectively.<ref name=bfi/> For the latter he won the [[BAFTA Award for Best Actor]]. With his characteristic liking for switching between modern roles and the classics, his next stage part was Colonel Vershinin in ''[[Three Sisters (play)|Three Sisters]]'' in 1951. He headed a strong cast, with [[Renée Asherson]], Margaret Leighton and [[Celia Johnson]] as the sisters, but reviewers found the production weakly directed, and some felt that Richardson failed to disguise his positive personality when playing the ineffectual Vershinin.<ref>Miller, p. 147</ref> He did not attempt Chekhov again for more than a quarter of a century.<ref name=roles/>

{{Quote box |bgcolor=#DCD|salign=right| quote =Richardson's playing of Macbeth suggests a fatal disparity between his temperament and the part|source=''The Times'', June 1952<ref>"Stratford Festival", ''The Times'', 11 June 1952, p. 8</ref>|align=left| width=170px}}
In 1952 Richardson appeared at the [[Stratford-upon-Avon]] Festival at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (forerunner of the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]]). His return to Shakespeare for the first time since his Old Vic days was keenly anticipated, but turned out to be a serious disappointment. He had poor reviews for his Prospero in ''The Tempest'', judged too prosaic.<ref>[[Philip Hope-Wallace|Hope-Wallace, Philip]]. "The Tempest at Stratford", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 26 March 1952, p. 5; and "The Tempest", ''The Times'', 26 March 1952, p. 8</ref> In the second production of the festival his Macbeth, directed by Gielgud, was generally considered a failure. He was thought unconvincingly villainous; the influential young critic [[Kenneth Tynan]] professed himself "unmoved to the point of paralysis", though blaming the director more than the star.<ref name=tynan107>Tynan, p. 107</ref> Richardson's third and final role in the Stratford season, [[Volpone]] in [[Ben Jonson]]'s play, received much better, but not ecstatic, notices.<ref>"Stratford Festival", ''The Times'' 16 July 1952, p. 9; and "Jonson on Avon", ''The Observer'', 20 June 1952, p. 6</ref> He did not play at Stratford again.<ref name=roles/>

Back in the West End, Richardson was in another Sherriff play, ''[[The White Carnation]]'', in 1953, and in November of the same year he and Gielgud starred together in [[N. C. Hunter|N.{{space}}C.{{space}}Hunter]]'s ''[[A Day by the Sea]]'', which ran at the Haymarket for 386 performances.<ref>Gaye, p. 1530</ref> During this period, Richardson played [[Dr. Watson|Dr Watson]] in an American/BBC radio co-production of [[Sherlock Holmes]] stories, with Gielgud as Holmes and [[Orson Welles]] as the evil Professor Moriarty. These recordings were later released commercially on disc.<ref>[http://www.worldcat.org/title/sherlock-holmes-a-baker-street-dozen/oclc/70044735&referer=brief_results "Sherlock Holmes – A Baker Street Dozen"], WorldCat, retrieved 22 January 2014</ref>

In late 1954 and early 1955 Richardson and his wife toured Australia together with Sybil Thorndike and her husband, [[Lewis Casson]], playing [[Terence Rattigan]]'s plays ''[[The Sleeping Prince (play)|The Sleeping Prince]]'' and ''[[Separate Tables]]''.<ref>"Sir Ralph Richardson's Australian Tour", ''The Times'', 10 November 1954, p. 4</ref> The following year he worked with Olivier again, playing Buckingham to Olivier's Richard in the [[Richard III (1955 film)|1955 film]] of ''Richard III''.<ref name=roles/> Olivier, who directed, was exasperated at his old friend's insistence on playing the role sympathetically.<ref>Miller, p.&nbsp;163</ref>

Richardson turned down the role of Estragon in Peter Hall's premiere of the English language version of [[Samuel Beckett]]'s ''[[Waiting for Godot]]'' in 1955, and later reproached himself for missing the chance to be in "the greatest play of my generation".<ref>Callow, Simon. [https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/jul/25/theatre.beckettat1001 "Godot almighty"], ''The Guardian'', 25 July 2005</ref> He had consulted Gielgud, who dismissed the piece as rubbish, and even after discussing the play with the author, Richardson could not understand the play or the character.<ref>Miller, pp. 162–163</ref> Richardson's ''[[Timon of Athens]]'' in his 1956 return to the Old Vic was well received,<ref>''The Manchester Guardian'', 6 September 1956, p. 5; and ''The Times'', 6 September 1956, p. 5</ref> as was his Broadway appearance in ''[[The Waltz of the Toreadors]]'' for which he was nominated for a [[Tony Award]] in 1957.<ref>[https://www.tonyawards.com/nominees/?q=Ralph%20Richardson "Ralph Richardson"], Tony Awards, retrieved 1 June 2019</ref> He concluded the 1950s with two contrasting West End successes, [[Robert Bolt]]'s ''Flowering Cherry'', and [[Graham Greene]]'s ''The Complaisant Lover''. The former, a sad piece about a failed and deluded insurance manager, ran for 435 performances in 1957–58;<ref>Gaye, p. 1531</ref> Richardson co-starred with three leading ladies in succession: Celia Johnson, Wendy Hiller and his wife.<ref>"Theatres", ''The Times'', 16 November 1957, p. 2, 20 June 1958, p. 2, and 1 November 1958, p. 2</ref> Greene's comedy was a surprise hit, running for 402 performances from June 1959. Throughout rehearsals the cast treated the love-triangle theme as one of despair, and were astonished to find themselves playing to continual laughter.<ref>Miller, p. 173</ref> During the run, Richardson worked by day on another Greene work, the film ''[[Our Man in Havana (film)|Our Man in Havana]]''. Alec Guinness, who played the main role, noted "the object-lesson in upstaging in the last scene between Richardson and [[Noël Coward]]", faithfully captured by the director, Carol Reed.<ref>Miller, p. 179</ref>

===1960s===
{{Hatnote|Details of Richardson's work, 1960–69: [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrS60|Stage]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrR60|Radio]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrF60|Film]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrTV60|Television]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrA60|Accolades]]}}
[[File:Richardson in Long Day's Journey.jpg|thumb|alt=man in late middle age, balding, clean-shaven, looking thoughtful|upright|left|Richardson in ''[[Long Day's Journey into Night (1962 film)|Long Day's Journey into Night]]'' (1962)]]
Richardson began the 1960s with a failure. [[Enid Bagnold]]'s play ''The Last Joke'' was savaged by the critics ("a meaningless jumble of pretentious whimsy" was one description).<ref>Lewis, Frank in ''The Sunday Dispatch'', quoted in Miller, p. 180</ref> His only reason for playing in the piece was the chance of acting with Gielgud, but both men quickly regretted their involvement.<ref>O'Connor, pp. 188–189</ref> Richardson then went to the US to appear in [[Sidney Lumet]]'s [[Long Day's Journey into Night (1962 film)|film adaptation]] of ''[[Long Day's Journey into Night]]'', alongside [[Katharine Hepburn]].<ref name=roles/> Lumet later recalled how little guidance Richardson needed. Once, the director went into lengthy detail about the playing of a scene, and when he had finished, Richardson said, "Ah, I think I know what you want – a little more flute and a little less cello". After that, Lumet was sparing with suggestions.<ref>Miller, p. 181</ref> Richardson was jointly awarded the [[Cannes Film Festival]]'s [[Best Actor Award (Cannes Film Festival)|Best Actor]] prize with his co-stars [[Jason Robards|Jason Robards Jr]] and [[Dean Stockwell]].<ref>"Cannes Top Prize Goes to Brazil – Award to Britons", ''The Guardian'', 24 May 1962, p. 1</ref>

Richardson's next stage role was in a starry revival of ''The School for Scandal'', as Sir Peter Teazle, directed by Gielgud in 1962. The production was taken on a North American tour, in which Gielgud joined the cast as, he said, "the oldest Joseph Surface in the business".<ref>Miller, p. 185</ref> A revival of ''[[Six Characters in Search of an Author]]'' in 1963 was judged by the critic [[Sheridan Morley]] to have been a high-point of the actor's work in the 1960s.<ref name=dnb/> Richardson joined a [[British Council]] tour of South Africa and Europe the following year; he played Bottom again, and [[Shylock]] in ''The Merchant of Venice''.<ref name=roles/>

[[File:The School for Scandal 1963.jpg|thumb|upright|[[John Gielgud]] (left) as Joseph Surface, and Richardson as Sir Peter Teazle, ''[[The School for Scandal]]'', 1962]]
For his next four stage productions, Richardson was at the Haymarket. ''Father Carving a Statue'' (1964) by Graham Greene was short-lived. He had a more reliable vehicle in Shaw's ''[[You Never Can Tell (play)|You Never Can Tell]]'' (1966) in which he played the philosopher-waiter William, and in the same year he had a great success as Sir Anthony Absolute in ''[[The Rivals]]''. The critic [[David Benedictus]] wrote of Richardson's performance, "he is choleric and gouty certainly, the script demands that he shall be, but his most engaging quality, his love for his son in spite of himself, shines through every line."<ref name=m330>Morley, p. 330</ref> In 1967 he again played Shylock; this was the last time he acted in a Shakespeare play on stage.<ref name=roles/> His performance won critical praise, but the rest of the cast were less well received.<ref>Miller, p. 214</ref>

Interspersed with his stage plays, Richardson made thirteen cinema films during the decade. On screen he played historical figures including [[Edward Carson|Sir Edward Carson]] (''[[Oscar Wilde (film)|Oscar Wilde]]'', 1960), [[William Ewart Gladstone|W.{{space}}E.{{space}}Gladstone]] (''[[Khartoum (1966 film)|Khartoum]]'', 1966) and [[Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon|Sir Edward Grey]] (''[[Oh! What a Lovely War]]'', 1969). He was scrupulous about historical accuracy in his portrayals, and researched eras and characters in great detail before filming. Occasionally his precision was greater than directors wished, as when, in ''Khartoum'', he insisted on wearing a small black finger-stall because the real Gladstone had worn one following an injury.<ref>Miller, p. 200</ref> After a role playing a disabled tycoon and [[Sean Connery]]'s uncle in ''[[Woman of Straw]]'', in 1965 he played Alexander Gromeko in Lean's ''[[Doctor Zhivago (film)|Doctor Zhivago]]'', an exceptionally successful film at the box office, which, together with ''[[The Wrong Box]]'' and ''Khartoum'', earned him a BAFTA nomination for best leading actor in 1966.<ref name=ww/> Other film roles from this period included Lord Fortnum (''[[The Bed Sitting Room (film)|The Bed Sitting Room]]'', 1969) and Leclerc (''[[The Looking Glass War (film)|The Looking Glass War]]'', 1970).<ref name=roles/> The casts of ''Oh! What a Lovely War'' and ''Khartoum'' included Olivier, but he and Richardson did not appear in the same scenes, and never met during the filming.<ref>"The return of General Gordon", ''The Observer'', 8 May 1966, p. 26</ref> Olivier was by now running the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]], temporarily based at the Old Vic, but showed little desire to recruit his former colleague for any of the company's productions.{{#tag:ref|Accounts vary about how hard Olivier tried to get Richardson to join the National company. Olivier's successor, Peter Hall, believed that the reluctance was more on Richardson's side than Olivier's, and that Olivier was upset when Hall succeeded where he had failed in recruiting Richardson. John Miller comments that the roles Olivier had offered did not appeal to Richardson, so that the invitations were hardly more than token gestures.<ref>Miller, p. 258</ref>|group= n}}

In 1964 Richardson was the voice of [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|General Haig]] in the twenty-six-part BBC documentary series ''[[The Great War (documentary)|The Great War]]''.<ref>Hughes-Wilson, John. "How The Great War was lost – and found", ''The Times'', 9 November 2001, p. 5</ref> In 1967 he played [[Lord Emsworth]] on BBC television in dramatisations of [[P. G. Wodehouse|P{{space}}G{{space}}Wodehouse]]'s Blandings Castle stories, with his wife playing Emsworth's bossy sister Constance, and [[Stanley Holloway]] as the butler, Beach.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140113130525/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b8bc299df "Blandings Castle – Lord Emsworth and the Crime Wave at Blandings"], British Film Institute, retrieved 18 January 2014</ref> He was nervous about acting in a television series: "I'm sixty-four and that's a bit old to be taking on a new medium."<ref name="Quoted in Miller, p. 212">''Quoted'' in Miller, p. 212</ref> The performances divided critical opinion. ''The Times'' thought the stars "a sheer delight{{space}}... situation comedy is joy in their hands".<ref>Cooper, R. W. "Wodehouse's Emsworth on TV", ''The Times'', 25 February 1967, p. 7</ref> The reviewers in ''The Guardian'' and ''[[The Observer]]'' thought the three too theatrical to be effective on the small screen.<ref>Reynolds, Stanley. "Television", ''The Guardian'', 25 February 1967, p. 6; and Richardson, Maurice. "Television", ''The Observer'', 26 February 1967, p. 25</ref> For television he recorded studio versions of two plays in which he had appeared on stage: ''Johnson Over Jordan'' (1965) and ''Twelfth Night'' (1968).<ref name=m369>Miller, p. 369</ref>

During the decade, Richardson made numerous sound recordings. For the [[Caedmon Audio]] label he re-created his role as ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' opposite [[Anna Massey]] as Roxane, and played the title role in a complete recording of ''Julius Caesar'', with a cast that included [[Anthony Quayle]] as Brutus, [[John Mills]] as Cassius and [[Alan Bates]] as Antony. Other Caedmon recordings were ''[[Measure for Measure]]'', ''The School for Scandal'' and ''No Man's Land''. Richardson also recorded some English Romantic poetry, including ''[[The Rime of the Ancient Mariner]]'' and poems by [[John Keats|Keats]] and [[Percy Bysshe Shelley|Shelley]] for the label.<ref>[http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=ralph+richardson+caedmon&qt=results_page "Ralph Richardson, Caedmon"], WorldCat, retrieved 22 January 2014</ref> For [[Decca Records]] Richardson recorded the narration for [[Sergei Prokofiev|Prokofiev]]'s ''[[Peter and the Wolf]]'', and for [[RCA Records|RCA]] the superscriptions for [[Ralph Vaughan Williams|Vaughan Williams]]'s ''[[Sinfonia antartica]]'' – both with the [[London Symphony Orchestra]], the Prokofiev conducted by [[Malcolm Sargent|Sir Malcolm Sargent]] and the Vaughan Williams by [[André Previn]].<ref>[http://www.worldcat.org/title/peter-and-the-wolf-op-67-symphony-no-1-in-d-major-op-25-classical/oclc/5852139&referer=brief_results "Peter and the Wolf"] and [http://www.worldcat.org/title/sinfonia-antartica-symphony-no-7/oclc/3625793&referer=brief_results "Sinfonia Antartica"], WorldCat, retrieved 21 January 2014</ref>

Richardson's last stage role of the decade was in 1969, as Dr Rance in ''[[What the Butler Saw (play)|What the Butler Saw]]'' by [[Joe Orton]]. It was a conspicuous failure. The public hated the play and made the fact vociferously clear at the first night.<ref>Hope-Wallace, Philip. "What the Butler Saw", ''The Guardian'', 6 March 1969, p. 10</ref>

===1970–74===
{{Hatnote|Details of Richardson's work, 1970–1974: [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrS70|Stage]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrF70|Film]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrTV70|Television]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrA70|Accolades]]}}
[[File:John Gielgud Allan Warren cropped.jpg|thumb|right|upright|alt=elderly man, almost bald, clean-shaven|John Gielgud, long-time colleague and friend]]
In 1970 Richardson was with Gielgud at the Royal Court in David Storey's ''[[Home (Storey play)|Home]]''. The play is set in the gardens of a nursing home for mental patients, though this is not clear at first. The two elderly men converse in a desultory way, are joined and briefly enlivened by two more extrovert female patients, are slightly scared by another male patient, and are then left together, conversing even more emptily. The ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'' critic, Jeremy Kingston wrote:

{{blockquote|At the end of the play, as the climax to two perfect, delicate performances, Sir Ralph and Sir John are standing, staring out above the heads of the audience, cheeks wet with tears in memory of some unnamed misery, weeping soundlessly as the lights fade on them. It makes a tragic, unforgettable close.<ref>Kingston, Jeremy, "Theatre", ''Punch'', volume 258, 1970, p. 961</ref>|}}

The play transferred to the West End and then to Broadway. In ''[[The New York Times]]'' [[Clive Barnes]] wrote, "The two men, bleakly examining the little nothingness of their lives, are John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson giving two of the greatest performances of two careers that have been among the glories of the English-speaking theater."<ref>Barnes, Clive. '[https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0B10FE3F551B7493CAA8178AD95F448785F9 "Theater: 'Home' Arrives "], ''The New York Times'', 18 November 1970, p. 41 {{subscription}}</ref> The original cast recorded the play for television in 1972.<ref name=m369/>

Back at the Royal Court in 1971 Richardson starred in [[John Osborne]]'s ''West of Suez'', after which, in July 1972, he surprised many by joining Peggy Ashcroft in a drawing-room comedy, ''[[Lloyd George Knew My Father (play)|Lloyd George Knew My Father]]'' by [[William Douglas-Home]].<ref>Miller, p. 245</ref> Some critics felt the play was too slight for its two stars, but Harold Hobson thought Richardson found unsuspected depths in the character of the ostensibly phlegmatic General Boothroyd.<ref name="Miller, p. 249">Miller, p. 249</ref> The play was a hit with the public, and when Ashcroft left after four months, Celia Johnson took over until May 1973, when Richardson handed over to [[Andrew Cruickshank]] in the West End.<ref>"Cast changes", ''The Times'', 11 May 1973, p. 11</ref> Richardson afterwards toured the play in Australia and Canada with his wife as co-star. An Australian critic wrote, "The play is a vehicle for Sir Ralph{{space}}... but the real driver is Lady Richardson."<ref>Glickfield, Leon, ''quoted'' in O'Connor, p. 208</ref>

Richardson's film roles of the early 1970s ranged from the bogus medium Mr Benton in ''[[Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?]]'' (1971), the Crypt Keeper in ''[[Tales from the Crypt (film)|Tales from the Crypt]]'' (1972) and dual roles in [[Lindsay Anderson|Lindsay Anderson's]] ''[[O Lucky Man]]'' to the Caterpillar in ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972 film)|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'' (1972) and Dr Rank in [[Henrik Ibsen|Ibsen]]'s ''[[A Doll's House (1973 Garland film)|A Doll's House]]'' (1973).<ref name=roles/> The last of these was released at the same time as an American film of [[A Doll's House (1973 Losey film)|the same play]], starring [[Jane Fonda]]; the timing detracted from the impact of both versions, but Richardson's performance won good reviews.<ref>Miller, p. 256</ref> In ''The Observer'', [[George Melly]] wrote, "As for Sir Ralph as Dr Rank, he grows from the ageing elegant cynic of his first appearance (it's even a pleasure to watch him remove his top hat) to become the heroic dying stoic of his final exit without in any way forcing the pace."<ref>Melly, George. "'Doll's House' Giants", ''The Observer'', 22 April 1973, p. 31</ref> In 1973 Richardson received a BAFTA nomination for his performance of [[George IV of the United Kingdom|George IV]] in ''[[Lady Caroline Lamb (film)|Lady Caroline Lamb]]'', in which Olivier appeared as [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Wellington]].<ref name=roles/>

===1975–1983===
{{Hatnote|Details of Richardson's work, 1975–1983: [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrS75|Stage]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrR75|Radio]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrF75|Film]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrTV75|Television]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrA75|Accolades]]}}
Peter Hall, having succeeded Olivier as director of the National Theatre, was determined to attract Ashcroft, Gielgud and Richardson into the company. In 1975 he successfully offered Richardson the title role in Ibsen's ''[[John Gabriel Borkman]]'', with Ashcroft and Wendy Hiller in the two main female roles. The production was one of the early successes of Hall's initially difficult tenure. The critic [[Michael Billington (critic)|Michael Billington]] wrote that Hall had done the impossible in reconciling the contradictory aspects of the play and that "Richardson's Borkman is both moral monster and self-made superman; and the performance is full of a strange, unearthly music that belongs to this actor alone."<ref>Billington (2002), p. 68</ref>

[[File:Harold-pinter-atp.jpg|thumb|left|alt=head shot of bespectacled ageing man talking|[[Harold Pinter]], author of ''[[No Man's Land (play)|No Man's Land]]''; he later played Hirst, the role created by Richardson<ref>Billington (2007), p. 228</ref>]]
Richardson continued his long stage association with Gielgud in [[Harold Pinter]]'s ''[[No Man's Land (play)|No Man's Land]]'' (1975) directed by Hall at the National. Gielgud played Spooner, a down-at-heel sponger and opportunist, and Richardson was Hirst, a prosperous but isolated and vulnerable author. There is both comedy and pain in the piece: the critic [[Michael Coveney]] called their performance "the funniest double-act in town",<ref name=m330/> but Peter Hall said of Richardson, "I do not think any other actor could fill Hirst with such a sense of loneliness and creativity as Ralph does.<ref>Hall, p. 169</ref> The production was a critical and box-office success, and played at the Old Vic, in the West End, at the [[Lyttelton Theatre]] in the new National Theatre complex, on Broadway and on television, over a period of three years.<ref name=roles/>

After ''No Man's Land'', Richardson once again turned to light comedy by Douglas-Home, from whom he commissioned ''The Kingfisher''. A story of an old love affair rekindled, it opened with Celia Johnson as the female lead. It ran for six months, and would have lasted much longer had Johnson not withdrawn, leaving Richardson unwilling to rehearse the piece with anyone else.<ref>Miller, pp. 280–282</ref> He returned to the National, and to Chekhov, in 1978 as the aged retainer Firs in ''[[The Cherry Orchard]]''. The notices for the production were mixed; those for Richardson's next West End play were uniformly dreadful. This was ''Alice's Boys'', a spy and murder piece generally agreed to be preposterous. A legend, possibly apocryphal, grew that during the short run Richardson walked to the front of the stage one night and asked, "Is there a doctor in the house?" A doctor stood up, and Richardson sadly said to him, "Doctor, isn't this a terrible play?"<ref name=mc/><ref>Miller, p. 290</ref>

After this débâcle the rest of Richardson's stage career was at the National, with one late exception.<ref name=roles/> He played Lord Touchwood in ''[[The Double Dealer]]'' (1978), the Master in ''[[The Fruits of Enlightenment]]'' (1979), Old Ekdal in ''[[The Wild Duck]]'' (1979) and Kitchen in Storey's ''Early Days'', specially written for him.<ref>Miller, pp. 233–234</ref> The last toured in North America after the London run.<ref name=roles/> His final West End play was ''The Understanding'' (1982), a gentle comedy of late-flowering love. Celia Johnson was cast as his co-star, but died suddenly just before the first night. [[Joan Greenwood]] stepped into the breach, but the momentum of the production had gone, and it closed after eight weeks.<ref>Miller, p. 328</ref>

Films in which Richardson appeared in the later 1970s and early 1980s include ''[[Rollerball (1975 film)|Rollerball]]'' (1975), ''[[The Man in the Iron Mask (1977 film)|The Man in the Iron Mask]]'' (1977), ''[[Dragonslayer (1981 film)|Dragonslayer]]'' (1981) in which he played a wizard and ''[[Time Bandits]]'' (1981) in which he played the Supreme Being.<ref name=roles/> In 1983 he was seen as Pfordten in [[Tony Palmer (director)|Tony Palmer]]'s ''[[Wagner (film)|Wagner]]''; this was a film of enormous length,{{#tag:ref|Palmer's film has been seen in versions of several lengths. The original version lasted for nine hours.<ref name=mills>Mills, Bart. "The tragedy of Wagner: A nine-hour epic starring Richard Burton", ''[[The Guardian]]'' 14 January 1984, p. 10</ref> A three-and-a-half-hour edition was shown in Los Angeles in December 1983 to qualify it for consideration in the 1984 Academy Awards.<ref name=mills/> The longer version was issued on DVD in 2007.<ref>[http://www.worldcat.org/title/wagner-wagner/oclc/742521529&referer=brief_results "Wagner, Tony Palmer"], WorldCat, retrieved 1 February 2014.</ref> Another version lasting seven hours and three quarters was issued on DVD in 2011.<ref>[http://www.worldcat.org/title/wagner/oclc/862734073&referer=brief_results "Wagner"], WorldCat, retrieved 1 February 2014</ref>|group= n}} starring [[Richard Burton]] as [[Richard Wagner]] and was noted at the time, and subsequently, for the cameo roles of three conspiratorial courtiers, played by Gielgud, Olivier and Richardson – the only film in which the three played scenes together.<ref>Greenfield, Edward. "Back in the Ring", ''The Guardian'', 14 June 1984, p. 11</ref>{{#tag:ref|The three are seen together in long shot near the opening of Olivier's film of ''Richard III'' with no shared dialogue.|group= n}} For television, Richardson played [[Simeon (Gospel of Luke)|Simeon]] in ''[[Jesus of Nazareth (miniseries)|Jesus of Nazareth]]'' (1977),<ref name=bfi>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120715045148/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b9ee24b96 "Ralph Richardson"], British Film Institute, retrieved 18 January 2014</ref> made studio recordings of ''No Man's Land'' (1978) and ''Early Days'' (1982),<ref name=m369/> and was a guest in the 1981 [[Morecambe and Wise]] Christmas Show.{{#tag:ref|[[Eric Morecambe]] was a great admirer of Richardson, and went to see him in ''Lloyd George Knew My Father'' twelve times.<ref name="Miller, p. 249"/> Richardson played in a (deliberately) semi-literate historical sketch supposedly written by [[Ernie Wise]]. ''The Guardian'' commented, "Nothing in it could quite compare with Sir Ralph Richardson's reading for Eric's [[Benjamin Disraeli|Disraeli]]. It takes a real superstar to do justice to the lines: 'Nobody had served the country with such patriotic fervour like what I did.{{'"}}<ref>Fiddick, Peter. "Television", ''The Guardian'', 24 December 1981, p. 10</ref>|group= n}} His last radio broadcast was in 1982 in a documentary programme about [[Little Tich]], whom he had watched at the [[Brighton Hippodrome]] before the First World War.<ref name=timesobit/><ref name=m369/>

[[File:RalphRichardsonGrave.jpeg|thumb|upright|The grave of Richardson, his wife Meriel Forbes, and their son, Charles, in [[Highgate Cemetery]] in north London]]
In ''[[Witness for the Prosecution (1982 film)|Witness for the Prosecution]]'', a television remake of the 1957 film, he played the barrister Sir Wilfrid Robarts, co-starring [[Deborah Kerr]] and [[Diana Rigg]]. In the United States, it was shown on the CBS network in December 1982.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120805044835/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b78bc0f07 "Witness for the Prosecution (1982)"], British Film Institute, retrieved 18 January 2014; and Smithies, Sandy. "Television", ''The Guardian'', 26 August 1985, p. 16</ref> Richardson's last two films were released after his death: ''[[Give My Regards to Broad Street (film)|Give My Regards to Broad Street]]'', with [[Paul McCartney]], and ''[[Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes|Greystoke]]'', a retelling of the [[Tarzan]] story. In the last, Richardson played the stern old Lord Greystoke, rejuvenated in his latter days by his lost grandson, reclaimed from the wild; he was posthumously nominated for an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]]. The film bears the superscription, "Dedicated to Ralph Richardson 1902–1983 – In Loving Memory"<ref name=bfi/>

Richardson's final stage role was Don Alberto in ''Inner Voices'' by [[Eduardo De Filippo]] at the National in 1983. The direction was criticised by reviewers, but Richardson's performance won high praise. He played an old man who denounces the next-door family for murder and then realises he dreamt it but cannot persuade the police that he was wrong.<ref>Miller, pp. 337–338</ref> Both ''Punch'' and ''The New York Times'' found his performance "mesmerising".<ref>"National Theatre", ''The Times'', 8 July 1983, p. 7; and "National Theatre", ''The Times'', 9 September 1983, p. 7</ref> After the London run the piece was scheduled to go on tour in October. Just before that, Richardson suffered a series of strokes, from which he died on 10 October, at the age of eighty.<ref name=dnb/> All the theatres in London dimmed their lights in tribute; the funeral [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] was at Richardson's favourite church, the [[Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory]], in [[Soho]];{{#tag:ref|By special permission of the area bishop, the Mass was sung in the old form of the [[Roman Missal]] with which Richardson had grown up.<ref name=mass/> In 1971 he had been one of many public figures who appealed to the Roman Catholic church not to abandon this traditional form of the Mass.<ref>"Appeal to preserve Mass sent to Vatican", ''The Times'', 6 July 1971, p. 5</ref>|group= n}} he was buried in [[Highgate Cemetery]]; and the following month there was a memorial service in [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref name=mass>Sir Ralph Richardson", ''The Times'', 16 November 1983, p. 14; and Miller, pp. 342–343</ref>

==Character and reputation==
As a man, Richardson was on the one hand deeply private and on the other flamboyantly unconventional. [[Frank Muir]] said of him, "It's the Ralphdom of Ralph that one has to cling to; he wasn't really quite like other people."<ref name="Quoted in Miller, p. 212"/> In Coveney's phrase, "His oddness was ever startling and never hardened into mere eccentricity."<ref name=mc/> Richardson would introduce colleagues to his ferrets by name, ride at high speed on his powerful motor-bike in his seventies, have a parrot flying round his study eating his pencils, or take a pet mouse out for a stroll, but behind such unorthodox behaviour there was a closely guarded self who remained an enigma to even his closest colleagues.<ref>Miller, p. 137; Stokes, John. "Typecast by his time", ''The Guardian'', 24 November 1995, p. A22</ref> Tynan wrote in ''[[The New Yorker]]'' that Richardson "made me feel that I have known this man all my life and that I have never met anyone who more adroitly buttonholed me while keeping me firmly at arm's length."<ref>''Quoted'' in Levin, Bernard. "Tynan, fizzing to the last", ''The Times'', 22 October 1980, p. 12</ref>

Richardson was not known for his political views. He reportedly voted for [[Winston Churchill]]'s [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative party]] in 1945, but there is little other mention of party politics in the biographies.<ref>Findlater, p. 128</ref> Having been a devoted Roman Catholic as a boy, he became disillusioned with religion as a young man, but drifted back to faith: "I came to a kind of feeling I could touch a live wire through prayer".<ref name=rituals>Hayman, Ronald. "Ralph Richardson: open to the appeal of rituals", ''The Times'', 1 July 1972, p. 9</ref> He retained his early love of painting, and listed it and tennis in his ''[[Who's Who (UK)|Who's Who]]'' entry as his recreations.<ref name=ww>[http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U168526 "Richardson, Sir Ralph David"], ''Who Was Who'', online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2012, retrieved 30 January 2014</ref>

Peter Hall said of Richardson, "I think he was the greatest actor I have ever worked with."<ref>Hall, Peter. "Peter Hall on Ralph Richardson's Falstaff", The Guardian, 31 January 1996, p. A11</ref> The director David Ayliff, son of Richardson's and Olivier's mentor, said, "Ralph was a natural actor, he couldn't stop being a perfect actor; Olivier did it through sheer hard work and determination."<ref>[http://sounds.bl.uk/related-content/TRANSCRIPTS/024T-C1142X000149-0100A0.pdf Interview with David Ayliff], Theatre Archive Project, British Library, 18 December 2006</ref> Comparing the two, Hobson said that Olivier always made the audience feel inferior, and Richardson always made them feel superior.<ref name=eh/> The actor [[Edward Hardwicke]] agreed, saying that audiences were in awe of Olivier, "whereas Ralph would always make you feel sympathy{{space}}... you wanted to give him a big hug. But they were both giants."<ref name=eh>[http://sounds.bl.uk/related-content/TRANSCRIPTS/024T-C1142X000190-0100A0.pdf Interview with Edward Hardwicke], Theatre Archive Project, British Library, 6 November 2007</ref>

Richardson thought himself temperamentally unsuited to the great tragic roles, and most reviewers agreed, but to critics of several generations he was peerless in classic comedies. Kenneth Tynan judged any Falstaff against Richardson's, which he considered "matchless",<ref>Tynan, pp. 98 and 102</ref> and Gielgud judged "definitive".<ref>Gielgud (1979), p. 92</ref> Richardson, though hardly ever satisfied with his own performances, evidently believed he had done well as Falstaff. Hall and others tried hard to get him to play the part again, but referring to it he said, "Those things I've done in which I've succeeded a little bit, I'd hate to do again."<ref>Raynor, Henry. "Richardson on Orton's last play", ''The Times'', 17 December 1968, p. 14</ref>

{{Quote box |bgcolor=#DCD|salign=right|fontsize=89%| quote =It's very hard to define what was so special about him, because of this ethereal, other-worldly, strangely subversive quality. He was foursquare, earthy on the stage, a little taller than average height, yeasty. "As for my face," he once said, "I've seen better looking hot cross buns." But he seemed possessed of special knowledge.|source=[[Michael Coveney]]<ref name=mc>Coveney, Michael. "Ralph Richardson", ''The Stage'', 30 September 2010, p. 21</ref>|align=right| width=33%}}
A leading actor of a younger generation, [[Albert Finney]], has said that Richardson was not really an actor at all, but a magician.<ref name=mc/> Miller, who interviewed many of Richardson's colleagues for his 1995 biography, notes that when talking about Richardson's acting, "magical" was a word many of them used.<ref>Miller, p. 150</ref> ''The Guardian'' judged Richardson "indisputably our most poetic actor".<ref name=guardianobit/> For ''The Times'', he "was ideally equipped to make an ordinary character seem extraordinary or an extraordinary one seem ordinary".<ref name=timesobit/> He himself touched on this dichotomy in his variously reported comments that acting was "merely the art of keeping a large group of people from coughing" or, alternatively, "dreaming to order".<ref name=guardianobit/>

Tynan, who could be brutally critical when he thought Richardson miscast, nevertheless thought there was something godlike about him, "should you imagine the Almighty to be a whimsical, enigmatic magician, capable of fearful blunders, sometimes inexplicably ferocious, at other times dazzling in his innocence and benignity".<ref name=mc/> Harold Hobson wrote, "Sir Ralph is an actor who, whatever his failure in heroic parts, however short of tragic grandeur his Othello or his Macbeth may have fallen, has nevertheless, in unromantic tweeds and provincial hats, received a revelation. There are more graceful players than he upon the stage; there is none who has been so touched by Grace."<ref>Hobson, p. 70</ref>

==Notes, references and sources==
===Notes===
{{Reflist|group=n}}

===References===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book | last=Agate | first=James | year=1934 | title=First Nights | url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.107438 | location=London | publisher= Nicholson and Watson | oclc=1854236 }}
* {{cite book | last=Agate | first=James | year=1946| title= The Contemporary Theatre, 1944 and 1945| location= London | publisher= Harrap | oclc= 1597751}}
* {{cite book | last= Billington | first= Michael | year= 2002| title= One Night Stands – A Critic's View of Modern British Theatre| location= London | publisher= Nick Hern | isbn= 1854596608}}
* {{cite book | last= Billington | first= Michael | year= 2007| title= Harold Pinter | location= London | publisher= Faber and Faber | isbn= 0571234763}}
* {{cite book | last= Clough | first= Valerie | year= 1989| title= Sir Ralph Richardson – A Life in the Theatre| location=Worthing, UK | publisher= Churchman | isbn= 1850931143}}
* {{cite book| last= Croall| first= Jonathan| authorlink= Jonathan Croall| year= 2011| title= John Gielgud – Matinee Idol to Movie Star| location= London| publisher= Methuen| isbn= 1408131064| url-access= registration| url= https://archive.org/details/johngielgudmatin0000croa}}
* {{cite book | last= Findlater | first= Richard |authorlink= Richard Findlater| year= 1983| title= These our Actors – A Celebration of the Theatre Acting of Peggy Ashcroft, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson | location= London | publisher= Elm Tree Books | isbn= 0241111358}}
* {{cite book | editor-last= Gaye | editor-first=Freda | year= 1967 | title=Who's Who in the Theatre | edition=fourteenth | location=London | publisher=Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons | oclc=5997224 }}
* {{cite book | last= Gielgud | first= John | year= 1979 | title= An Actor and His Time | location= London | publisher= Sidgwick and Jackson | isbn= 0283985739}}
* {{cite book | last=Gielgud | first=John | year=2000 | title= Gielgud on Gielgud | location=London | publisher=Hodder and Stoughton | isbn=0340795026 }}
* {{cite book | last=Gielgud | first=John | year=2004 | editor=Richard Mangan | title= Gielgud's Letters | location=London | publisher= Weidenfeld and Nicolson | isbn=0297829890 }}
* {{cite book | last=Hall | first=Peter |editor=John Goodwin | year=2000 |origyear=1983| title=Peter Hall's Diaries | location=London | publisher=Oberon | isbn=1840021020 }}
* {{cite book | last= Hayman | first= Ronald | year= 1971 | title= Gielgud | location= London | publisher= Heinemann | isbn= 0435184008}}
* {{cite book | last= Hobson | first= Harold | year= 1958| title= Ralph Richardson | location= London | publisher= Rockliff | oclc= 3797774}}
* {{cite book | last=Holden | first=Anthony | year=1988 | title=Laurence Olivier | location=London | publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson | isbn=0020332858 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/laurenceolivier00hold_0 }}
* {{cite book | last= Kulik | first= Karol | year= 1975| title= Alexander Korda – The Man Who Could Work Miracles| location= London | publisher=W H Allen | isbn=0491019432 }}
* {{cite book | last=Miller | first=John | year=1995 | title=Ralph Richardson – The Authorized Biography | location=London | publisher= Sidgwick and Jackson | isbn=0283062371 }}
* {{cite book | last= Morley | first= Sheridan | year=1985 |chapter=Ralph Richardson| title= The Great Stage Stars | location= London, and North Ryde, Australia | publisher= Angus & Robertson | isbn= 0207149704}}
* {{cite book | last=Neill | first=Michael|chapter=Introduction | year=2006 | title=Othello, the Moor of Venice |series=The Oxford Shakespeare|location=Oxford and New York | publisher= Oxford University Press| isbn= 0191568473}}
* {{cite book | last= O'Connor | first= Garry | year= 1982 | title= Ralph Richardson – An Actor's Life | location= London | publisher= Hodder and Stoughton | isbn= 0340270411}}
* {{cite book | last= Sinyard | first= Neil | year= 2013| title= A Wonderful Heart – The Films of William Wyler | location= Jefferson, North Carolina | publisher= McFarland | isbn= 0786435739}}
* {{cite book | last= Tanitch | first= Robert |authorlink=Robert Tanitch| year= 1982 | title= Ralph Richardson | location= London | publisher= Evans | isbn= 023745680X }}
* {{cite book | last= Tynan | first= Kenneth | year= 1964 | title= Tynan on Theatre | url= https://archive.org/details/tynanontheatre0000tyna | url-access= registration | location= London | publisher= Penguin Books | oclc=949598 }}
{{refend}}

== See also ==
*[[List of British actors]]
*[[List of Academy Award winners and nominees from Great Britain]]
*[[List of posthumous Academy Award winners and nominees]]
*[[List of actors with more than one Academy Award nomination in the acting categories]]
*[[List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees#Oldest nominees 4|List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees – Oldest nominees for Best Actor in a Supporting Role]]

==External links==
*{{IBDB name}}
*{{IMDb name|724732}}
*{{Screenonline name|id=460141}}
*[http://www.bris.ac.uk/theatrecollection/search/people_sub_plays_all?forename=Ralph&amp;surname=RICHARDSON&amp;job=Actor&amp;pid=186&image_view=Yesamp;x=19amp;y=17 performances listed in the Theatre Archive, University of Bristol]
*[http://searcharchives.bl.uk/IAMS_VU2:IAMS032-002481954 Letters from Ralph Richardson to Chrissie Shackleton]{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at the [[British Library]]

{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Ralph Richardson
|list =
{{BAFTA Award for Best Actor 1952-1959}}
{{Prix d'interprétation masculine 1960–1979}}
{{DramaDesk UniqueTheatricalExperience 1976–2000}}
{{National Board of Review Award for Best Actor}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor}}
{{OlivierAward SpecialAward}}
}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Ralph}}
[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:1983 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English male actors]]
[[Category:Actors awarded knighthoods]]
[[Category:Best British Actor BAFTA Award winners]]
[[Category:Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor winners]]
[[Category:Burials at Highgate Cemetery]]
[[Category:Drama Desk Award winners]]
[[Category:English male film actors]]
[[Category:English male Shakespearean actors]]
[[Category:English male stage actors]]
[[Category:English male television actors]]
[[Category:English male voice actors]]
[[Category:English Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Fleet Air Arm aviators]]
[[Category:Fleet Air Arm personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Forbes-Robertson family]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Male actors from Cheltenham]]
[[Category:Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II]]