He wwhen natural as Cecil Antonio Richardson around Shipley, Yorkshire in 1928. He was representative of the British "New Wave" of directors. When starting in a British theatre by owning the New English Stage Company, he co-founded Woodfall Films, with a dramatist John Osborne. Around 1964 he received two Academy Awards (Right Director & Best Picture) for Tom Jones (1963). He was married to the actress Vanessa Redgrave (1962-1967) and experienced deuce girl, Natasha Richardson and Joely Richardson. He was bisexual (which he had carefully hidden for when hanker when conceivable) & died from either complications of AIDS at the age of 63 around 1991.

Filmography (selected)

Look Back in Anger (1958) The Entertainer (1960) Sanctuary (1961) A Taste of Honey (1961) The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (aka Rebel with a Cause) (1962) Tom Jones (1963) Hamlet (1969) Ned Kelly (1970) The Border (1982) The Hotel New Hampshire (1984) Blue Sky (1994)