Richard Lester
Richard Lester Liebman (born January 19, 1932)[4] is a retired American film director based in the United Kingdom, famous for his comedic and campy style of shooting movies and for his work in both US and UK cinema.
This article is about the film director. For other people, see Richard Lester (disambiguation).
Richard Lester
Dick Lester
University of Pennsylvania (B.A.), Clinical Psychology, 1951) [1]
Film director
1959-2006
1[3]
He is best known for directing the Beatles' films A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965), and the superhero films Superman II (1980) and Superman III (1983).[5] His other notable films as director include The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1959), The Knack ...and How to Get It (1965), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), Petulia (1968), The Three Musketeers (1973) and its two sequels, as well as Robin and Marian (1976), and Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979). He is an Honorary Associate of London Film School.[6]
According to the British Film Institute, "if any single director can encapsulate the popular image of Britain in the Swinging Sixties, then it is probably Richard Lester. With his use of flamboyant cinematic devices and liking for zany humour, he captured the vitality, and sometimes the triviality, of the period more vividly than any other director."[7]
Later films and retirement[edit]
In 1984, Lester directed the comedy Finders Keepers, starring Michael O'Keefe, Louis Gossett Jr., and Beverly D'Angelo.[36] It had a domestic total gross of $1,467,396.[37] The film generally received good reviews.[38][39][40][41][42][43] Richard Freedman in his review published in The Montana Standard found the film to be "wonderfully wacky" and concluded that "a movie consisting almost entirely of pratfalls and sight gags can wear you down after a while, but everybody involved in Finders Keepers ensures, that this is one comedy that makes nobody in the audience a loser or a weeper."[44]
In 1988, he reunited most of the Three Musketeers cast to film The Return of the Musketeers, released the following year. During filming in Spain, actor Roy Kinnear, a close friend of Lester, died after falling from a horse. Lester finished the film, then returned only to direct Paul McCartney's concert film Get Back (1991).[31]
In 1993, he presented Hollywood U.K., a five-part series on British cinema in the 1960s for the BBC.[45]
Director Steven Soderbergh is among many who have called for a reappraisal of Lester's work and influence. He wrote Getting Away with It, published in 1999 about Lester's career;[46] the book consists of interviews with Lester.
In 2012, the British Film Institute awarded Lester a Fellowship, the British film industry's highest honour, in recognition of his work. The award was presented in a public ceremony on March 22 at the National Film Theatre, and was followed by a screening of Lester's Robin and Marian. The citation for his fellowship recognises that "Richard Lester has created a unique body of work which has enriched the lives of millions with his brilliantly surreal humour and innovative style. Although born in the US, he has lived in Britain for 60 years and created some of the most enduring and influential creations of British cinema."[47]
Personal life[edit]
In Soderbergh's book Getting Away with It, Lester reveals that he is a committed atheist and debates with Soderbergh (who was then an agnostic), largely based on the arguments of Richard Dawkins.[46] While Lester studied at the University of Pennsylvania, he was a member of the Beta Rho Chapter of the Sigma Nu fraternity.[48]