The man who “brought” us a park full of dinosaurs has passed away at the age of 90.
Attenborough, Laura Dern, and Sam Neill in “Jurassic Park.”
Lord Richard Attenborough, known to many of us as Dr. John Hammond, the creator of the magical, dangerous Jurassic Park, died at lunchtime Sunday in England, The Guardian reports.
Born in Cambridge, England, Attenborough began his film career in 1942, but he began to his rise to fame with Brighton Rock in 1947. He also starred in The Great Escape in 1963, with Steve McQueen, and in The Flight of the Phoenix in 1966.
Attenborough in “The Flight of the Phoenix.”
Current generations may know him best from the Jurassic Park franchise and for his role as Kris Kringle in the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street. His last full-length feature film was in Elizabeth, opposite Cate Blanchett, in 1998.
Attenborough in “Miracle on 34th Street.”
The older brother of famed nature broadcaster Sir David Attenborough was also an accomplished director, with 12 films to his name. He won two Academy Awards for 1982’s Gandhi, which he also directed. The film would go on to win eight total. He also directed the award-winning Chaplin in 1993, starring Robert Downey, Jr. in the title role of Charlie Chaplin.
In 2013 he was moved into a care home in west London, having suffered a stroke five years earlier that confined him to a wheelchair.
His family said last year that Attenborough never fully recovered from the stroke that left him in a coma for several days.
Attenborough would have been 91 on August 29.