Richard Attenborough Quotes

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Richard Attenborough

Profession : Actor

Birth : August 29, 1923

I think 'E.T.' is a quite extraordinary piece of cinema.

Richard Attenborough

I don't really like the Oscars; it's a commercial promotional event. It helps immeasurably to sell films, but it's hardly the Nobel prize.

Richard Attenborough

I know I'm regarded as an establishment figure, but I was crucified by the establishment for 'Oh! What a Lovely War', 'Gandhi' and 'Cry Freedom.'

Richard Attenborough

Irreverence is an essential part of our culture.

Richard Attenborough

The family is the focal point of our existence. And up until Jane and Lucy's death, there were always 16 of us together for Christmas.

Richard Attenborough

I adored my mother. I absolutely adored her and admired her.

Richard Attenborough

Throughout my life, I always remember that consideration of people who were less fortunate than we. We lived in an atmosphere of awareness, and we certainly did not live a life whereby we ignored, or felt that we could ignore, that which was in evidence around us.

Richard Attenborough

My family were liberal with a small 'l' but passionately doers. I wanted to be a doer.

Richard Attenborough

My father thought Gandhi was a great man. I suppose subconsciously, consciously even, I was aware that I wanted to please him and Ma, so I thought doing something like 'Gandhi' would be phenomenal.

Richard Attenborough

I'm not a pyrotechnical director; I'm not good with all those innovative things. What I am interested in is how actors can touch the heads and hearts of an audience.

Richard Attenborough

There are things I want to say: They are very important to me, and, not being a writer, I do it through movies.

Richard Attenborough

I lived in an atmosphere where Mama brought 60 Basque refugee children to England during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s.

Richard Attenborough

My main aim in 'Gandhi' was to project him as the vanguard of non-violence. Nowhere in the world has a movement of non-cooperation sans violence received so much support from masses as Gandhi's movement in India did. He was, to a great extent, responsible for freeing his nation from the British Raj.

Richard Attenborough

I know Pandit Ravi Shankar was very upset with me, as I did not use his compositions in 'Gandhi.' I thought that the London Philharmonic Orchestra would prove more effective than his music. It was one of my biggest miscalculations.

Richard Attenborough

I have no great interest in being remembered as a great creative filmmaker.

Richard Attenborough

I want to be remembered as a storyteller.

Richard Attenborough

In the late 1940s, there weren't any pop stars, and TV didn't exist.

Richard Attenborough

I'm not a great director or an auteur; I'm an ensemble director. I do think I can get wonderful performances out of actors.

Richard Attenborough

Say what you will about 'Miracle on 34th Street'; I can take my grandchildren to it. If I had a maiden aunt, I could take her, or my ma and pa if they were alive.

Richard Attenborough

The problem is, you see, I've just got so many subjects I want to direct.

Richard Attenborough