Scottish classical stage actor, as well as a film and television actor, Ian Richardson began his screen career in 1963 with the TV movie ‘As You Like It’ wherein he played the role of Le Beau. This was followed by more film roles – Jean-Paul Marat in ‘Marat/Sade’ (1967), Oberon in ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’ (1968) and Bertram, the Countess's son in another TV movie ‘All's Well That Ends Well’ (1968). During this time, he was also seen in an episode each of TV series ‘Festival’ (1964), ‘The Revenue Men’ (1967), ‘Plays of Today’ (1969) and ‘The Canterbury Tales’ (1969).
In 1972, he played the roles of the priest in the fantasy musical drama movie ‘Man of La Mancha’ and Capt. Fitzroy in the biographical drama film ‘The Darwin Adventure’. From 1970 to 1980, he became a part of five TV movies – ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ (1978), ‘Churchill and the Generals’ (1979), ‘A Deadly Game’ (1979), ‘Gauguin the Savage’ (1980) and ‘Ike: The War Years’ (1980). The period also saw him in TV series ‘Eyeless in Gaza’ (1971), ‘Camera Three’ (1974) and ‘BBC Play of the Month’ (1978) as well as in TV miniseries ‘Ike: The War Years’ (1979) and ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ (1979). The last of these, a seven-part BBC mystery thriller drama, was Ian Richardson’s first major role. In it, he played the role of Bill Haydon (Tailor).
More recognition came his way when he portrayed the role of Major Neuheim/Stanley Kemp/Gerald Melfort in the award-winning comedy crime drama series ‘Private Schulz’ in 1981. His performance in the series won him the RTS Television Award for Best Performance. Apart from this, the first half of the 1980s saw him playing the roles of Frederick Fairlie in the TV miniseries ‘The Woman in White’ (1982); Sherlock Holmes in two acclaimed television movies ‘The Sign of Four’ and ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ (both 1983); Adrien Avigdor in another miniseries ‘Mistral's Daughter’ (1984) and Mr. Warrenn in the sci-fi drama film ‘Brazil’ (1985).
Some of his significant work in the second half of the 1980s include playing the role of Mozart's father in the TV series ‘Mozart – His Life with Music’ (1985) as well as the roles of Anthony Blunt and Bishop of Motopo in an episode each of TV series ‘Screen Two’ and ‘Great Performances’ (both 1987) respectively. Additionally, he worked in 3 miniseries playing the role of Jawaharlal Nehru in ‘Masterpiece Theatre: Lord Mountbatten – The Last Viceroy’ (1986), Sir Godber Evans in ‘Porterhouse Blue’ (1987) and Edward Spencer in ‘Troubles’ (1988). In films, he was seen in the role of Sir Nigel Irvine in the 1987 cold war spy film ‘The Fourth Protocol’.
Ian Richardson’s other work in the decade of 1980s were TV series ‘Brass’ (1984) and ‘Six Centuries of Verse’ (1984); miniseries ‘Number 10’ (1983) and ‘Twist of Fate’ (1989); television movies ‘Russian Night... 1941’ (1982), ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (1982), ‘Salad Days’ (1983), ‘Kisch Kisch’ (1983), ‘The Master of Ballantrae’ (1984) and ‘Star Quality’ (1985) as well as movies ‘Whoops Apocalypse’ (1986), ‘Cry Freedom’ (1987) and ‘Burning Secret’ (1988).
In the beginning of 1990s, Ian Richardson became a part of the critically acclaimed and popular political thriller series ‘House of Cards’ (1990) and played the role of villainous Francis Urquhart in it as well as its two sequel – ‘To Play the King’ (1993) and ‘The Final Cut’ (1995). The series won him much acclaim and he received a ‘BAFTA Award’ (Best Actor) and ‘Broadcasting Press Guild Award’ (Best Acting Performance) for his performance in ‘House of Cards’. Both sequels, too, won him the ‘BAFTA Award’ nomination for Best Actor. He bagged the ‘Monte-Carlo TV Festival’ Special Mention Best Actor Award for his performance as the corrupt politician Michael Spearpoint in the 1990 comedy miniseries 'The Gravy Train'. A year later, he reprised his role in the ‘The Gravy Train Goes East’. In 1992, he played the role of Falkland Islands governor Sir Rex Hunt in BBC war TV movie ‘An Ungentlemanly Act’. His work in it once again bagged him nominations for Best Actor at the ‘BAFTA TV Awards’ and the ‘RTS Television Awards’. In 1999 and 2000, he played the role of Stephen Tyler/The Magician in the fantasy family drama series ‘The Magician's House’ and ‘The Magician's House II’.
Ian Richardson’s other performances in the decade of 1990 came in films like ‘King of the Wind’, ‘Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead’ (both 1990), ‘Year of the Comet’ (1992), ‘M. Butterfly’, ‘Dirty Weekend’ (both 1993), ‘Words Upon the Window Pane’ (1994), ‘Savage Play’ (1995), ‘B*A*P*S’, ‘The Fifth Province’, ‘Incognito’ (all 1997) and ‘Dark City’ (1998)
On television, he acted in several television movies like ‘The Plot to Kill Hitler’ (1990), ‘Foreign Affairs’, ‘Remember’ (both 1993),’A Change of Place’ (1994), ‘Catherine the Great’ (1995), ‘The Treasure Seekers’ (1996), ‘The Canterville Ghost’, ‘The Woman in White’ (both 1997) and ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’ (1998).
Additionally, he became a part of two television miniseries ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ (1990) and ‘The Great War: 1914-1918’ (1996) and also appeared in an episode each of TV series ‘Chillers’ (1990), ‘Highlander’ (1997) and ‘The Wonderful World of Disney’ (1998). Apart from this, he also narrated the 1997 comedy drama TV movie ‘A Royal Scandal’ and lent his voice in the 1999 fantasy family animation movie ‘The King and I’.
Ian Richardson then joined the cast of BBC’s four-part adventure comedy drama miniseries ‘Gormenghast’ (2000) and was seen in the role of Sepulchrave, Earl of Groan in its two episodes. The series received wide critical acclaim. In 2000-2001, he portrayed the character of Dr. Joseph Bell in BBC’s crime drama miniseries ‘Murder Rooms: Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes’ and won the Sherlock Holmes Award at the ‘BBC TV60 Awards, UK’. This was followed by performance in two other miniseries – ‘Strange’ (2002-2003) and ‘Bleak House’ (2005).
Apart from these, he played the role of Marcus Foster in the television movie ‘The Booze Cruise II: The Treasure Hunt’ (2005) and its sequel ‘The Booze Cruise III: The Scattering’ (2006); narrated two other TV movies ‘JLB: The Man Who Saw the Future’ (2002) and ‘Hogfather’ (2006) and became a part of films like ‘102 Dalmatians’ (2000) ‘From Hell’ (2001), ‘Joyeux Noel’ (2005), ‘The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby’ (2005) and ‘Twice Upon a Time’ (2006). His last performance was in the 2007 biographical romance drama film ‘Becoming Jane’ in which he was seen in the role of Judge Langlois.
Sam Lowry often daydreams of being a winged superhero saving a woman in distress. When Archibald Buttle is killed mistakenly instead of revolutionary Archibald Tuttle, Sam encounters Jill, the woman from his dreams who is trying to help Mrs. Buttle. Sam ends up being caught in a web of lies and government bureaucracy with disastrous consequences.
As the World War I begins, Europe is thrown into chaos as men are forced to kill or be killed. However, as Christmas approaches, the men in the trenches of the Western front agree on an unofficial truce. This allows the soldiers to gain insight into each other’s ways of life.
The neo-noir movie follows amnesiac John Murdoch who awakens in a hotel to find that he is being hunted for a series of murders by a group called the Strangers. Throughout the movie, he uncovers his true powers and defeats the Strangers who are extraterrestrials experimenting on and controlling humans.
A South African journalist attempts to investigate the death in custody of his friend, an activist. However, this eventually forces him to flee the country.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two minor characters from the famous play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, are traveling on horseback, as the events of the play unfold around them. They pay a visit to their old friend Hamlet, after which they engage in a philosophical debate about free will versus predestination. At the same time, they are unaware of their scripted lives and unable to deviate as well.
Based on the life of British author Jane Austen, the film depicts her lasting love for Tom Lefroy, at that time a penniless apprentice lawyer. An aspiring writer, she has many wealthy suitors; but chooses not accept them because such union may hamper her creativity. She cannot marry Tom either because his entire family depends on him.
Inspired by the graphic novel From Hell, the movie revolves around the horrific Jack the Ripper murders. Whitechapel Police Inspector Frederick Abberline, races against time to stop the Ripper, save the prostitute Mary Kelly, who he has fallen in love with while uncovering a darker conspiracy by Freemasons.
Loosely based on true events, this romantic drama film tells the story of Rene Gallimard, a diplomat from France who is sent to Beijing. His life takes a turn when he gets infatuated with an opera performer, Song Liling. They soon begin a relationship. However, he is unaware of the fact that she is spying on him for the Chinese government.
John Preston, a British spy is demoted by his boss for an unapproved but benign mission. He comes across a plot by Valeri Petrofsky, a KGB agent. Petrofsky is tring to frame Americans for building and detonating a nuclear bomb on British soil. Preston who is quite annoyed with his superiors takes the matter in his hands with the support of his MI5 director. He attempts to expose and thwart the plot before things go out of control.
The movie is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s play ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’. Preparations are undergoing for the marriage of Amazon Queen Hippolyta and Athenian Duke Theseus. But fairy king Oberon and his jester Puck create chaos and mischief using a love potion by involving other characters like Lysander, Demetrius, and Helena.
After spending three years in jail, Cruella apparently transforms into a good woman. However, when the loud noises of the Big Ben reach her, she reverts to her previous state and decides to kidnap 102 Dalmatian puppies for a new coat.
Ian Richardson Awards
| House of Cards | Best Actor | 1991 |
