Richard Attenborough: the actor v. the director

As a director, he was solid. A bit hit-or-miss and though he tried his hand at a few different genres, the results varied in degrees of success. I'm quite partial to Magic and Shadowlands, and think Gandhi while good is mostly elevated by Kingsley's fantastic performance and dragged a bit by its pacing.

As an actor, he was damn good. 10 Rillington Place is about as chilling a performance this side of Anthony Perkins and he like everything else in Jurassic Park is iconic for a reason.

I guess I think of him first as an actor because Jurassic Park was what I first saw him in, and will always be the thing I most associate him with. Beyond that, I think he was much better as an actor, like his movies though I basically do.

One way or the other, he's one of the absolute icons of British cinema. He's that more than he's anything.

He was a good director but a great (all-timer) actor. He was however an international director (in large part due to the success of Gandhi) and largely a British actor, which is why I think he is less remembered as an actor. His work that had crossover with American audiences were late in his career (other than the Great Escape), Jurassic Park, Elizabeth, Miracle on 34th Street, were all good, but of a certain type that doesn't at all skim the surface of his talents. 10 Rillington Place, Guns At Batasi, Seance on a Wet Afternoon, Brighton Rock, The Angry Silence, are heavy hitter performances that can standup against the oeuvre of any actor, and show a multifaceted performer. Take the two punch of Seance and Batasi, which he won a BAFTA for both, where he was as convincing as a henpecked meek man doting over his crazy wife in Seance, as he was the man who stood-fast against a country's army on sheer will alone. Unfortunately nearly all of his best performances are underseen and if that changed, I think he would rightly be remembered as one of, if not THE, best actor of his generation.