 "Gandhi director Richard Attenborough dies at 90")
Richard Attenborough, the UK movie director who chronicled the end of British colonial rule in India with his Oscar-winning epic Gandhi and performed in more than 50 films, has died. He was 90.
The director died at about lunchtime on Sunday, BBC News reported on its website, citing his son, Michael Attenborough. He would have turned 91 this week.
Attenborough, who was knighted in 1976, acted in 45 movies before he turned to directing. His 1982 cinematic tale about Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi won eight Academy Awards, including ones for directing and best picture. They were the only Oscars he would win in his six-decade career.
In 1962, Attenborough met an Indian official in London who urged him to make a film about Gandhi.
Aware that Hollywood director Otto Preminger and UK filmmaker David Lean had tried and failed to make a movie on the same topic, Attenborough was wary about the project.
The director died at about lunchtime on Sunday, BBC News reported on its website, citing his son, Michael Attenborough. He would have turned 91 this week.
Attenborough, who was knighted in 1976, acted in 45 movies before he turned to directing. His 1982 cinematic tale about Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi won eight Academy Awards, including ones for directing and best picture. They were the only Oscars he would win in his six-decade career.
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The brother of David Attenborough, the naturalist and television-documentary maker, made his directorial debut in 1969 with a film based on the musical Oh! What a Lovely War. He followed up with Young Winston (1972), a biography of Winston Churchill's early years, and with World War II drama A Bridge Too Far (1977). None of those movies stirred the passions that accompanied his 20-year battle to make a film about Gandhi.
In 1962, Attenborough met an Indian official in London who urged him to make a film about Gandhi.
Aware that Hollywood director Otto Preminger and UK filmmaker David Lean had tried and failed to make a movie on the same topic, Attenborough was wary about the project.