Ralph Richardson was born, the third of four boys, in Cheltenham where his father was a master at the famous Ladies' College. His parents' marriage broke up when he was four and his mother took him and his younger brother to Shoreham. He started his working career as an office boy in Brighton, but he was able to reconsider his career choice when his grandmother died leaving him a £500.
After an abortive attempt at being a painter, he paid to join a Brighton rep company so he could learn the trade. He then joined Charles Doran's touring company. In 1924, he married budding actress Muriel Hewitt. By the end of the twenties he was established in West End, and he joined the Old Vic in 1930.
His film career started with The Ghoul in which he played a seemingly-harmless vicar. It was this capacity to portray inoffensive ordinariness that cinema exploited for much of his career. If his character was in charge, then he was genial and clubbable; if he was lower down the pecking order then his character carried a hidden pain. There were, of course, exceptions to this rule such as his thuggish Boss in Things to Come.
Alexander Korda offered him a contract in 1935 and he was to remain under contract to him for the next 21 years, though much of his film work was for other companies.
He joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve when the war started. His wife died in 1942 as a result of sleeping sickness contracted on a tour of South Africa in the late twenties. A couple of years later he married Meriel Forbes. In the same year he was released from service to help run the Old Vic.
He was given the sack from there, along with Olivier, in 1947 - the same year he was knighted. Leaving the Old Vic meant he could devote more attention to his film work and he delivered three great performances in a row in Anna Karenina, The Fallen Idol, and The Heiress. He got a BAFTA for his role in The Sound Barrier.
As the 60s progressed, he developed an "eccentric old duffer" persona which suited his film cameos. On stage however, his work got more profound, particularly in his stage partnership with John Gielgud which began with Home at the Royal Court in 1970. He died in 1983, and his wife Meriel lived until 2000.
| 1933 | The Ghoul |
| 1933 | Friday the Thirteenth |
| 1934 | Thunder in the Air |
| 1934 | The King of Paris |
| 1934 | Java Head |
| 1934 | The Return of Bulldog Drummond |
| 1935 | Bulldog Jack |
| 1936 | Things to Come |
| 1936 | The Man Who Could Work Miracles |
| 1937 | Thunder in the City |
| 1938 | The Divorce of Lady X |
| 1938 | South Riding |
| 1938 | The Citadel |
| 1939 | Q Planes |
| 1939 | The Four Feathers |
| 1939 | The Lion Has Wings |
| 1940 | On the Night of the Fire |
| 1942 | The Day Will Dawn |
| 1943 | The Silver Fleet |
| 1946 | School for Secrets |
| 1948 | Anna Karenina |
| 1948 | The Fallen Idol |
| 1949 | The Heiress (US) |
| 1952 | Outcast of the Islands |
| 1952 | Home at Seven +dir. |
| 1952 | The Sound Barrier |
| 1952 | The Holly and the Ivy |
| 1955 | Richard III |
| 1956 | Smiley |
| 1957 | The Passionate Stranger |
| 1959 | Our Man in Havana |
| 1960 | Oscar Wilde |
| 1960 | Exodus |
| 1962 | The 300 Spartans |
| 1962 | Long Day's Journey Into Night |
| 1964 | Woman of Straw |
| 1965 | Chimes at Midnight |
| 1965 | Doctor Zhivago |
| 1966 | Khartoum |
| 1966 | The Wrong Box |
| 1969 | Oh What A Lovely War |
| 1969 | Midas Run |
| 1969 | The Bed Sitting Room |
| 1969 | The Battle of Britain |
| 1969 | The Looking Glass War |
| 1971 | Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? |
| 1972 | Lady Caroline Lamb |
| 1972 | Eagle in a Cage |
| 1972 | Tales from the Crypt |
| 1972 | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland |
| 1973 | A Doll's House |
| 1973 | Oh Lucky Man |
| 1975 | Rollerball |
| 1978 | Watership Down |
| 1981 | Dragonslayer |
| 1981 | Time Bandits |
| 1984 | Greystoke |
| 1984 | Give My Regards to Broad Street |
| 1985 | Invitation to the Wedding |
