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1-11 of 11
- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Richard Lester was one of the most influential directors of the 1960s, and continued his career into the 1970s and early '80s. He is best remembered for the two films he helmed starring The Beatles: A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965), the frenetic cutting style of which was seen by many as the predecessor of the music video a generation later.
Lester had made his name with the Oscar-nominated short subject The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1959) that he made with "The Goon Show" veterans Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan. He then directed Sellers in The Mouse on the Moon (1963), which was produced by Walter Shenson. The Goons were a favorite of The Beatles, and when Shenson got the rights to make a movie with The Beatles, Lester seemed to be the ideal director for the project.
That project, "A Hard Day's Night", was not only a huge box-office hit but a major critical success as well. "Village Voice" movie critic Andrew Sarris, the American promoter of the "auteur theory" in America, described "A Hard Day's Night" as "the Citizen Kane (1941) of juke box musicals." Lester had arrived, and his next film, the Swinging Sixties yarn The Knack... and How to Get It (1965), won the Palme d'Or at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival. He also directed the wildly satirical How I Won the War (1967), which came a year after the huge success of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), his adaptation of the smash Broadway play, which relied on the Keatonesque slapstick Lester had used so well in The Beatles films ("Forum" even featured Lester's hero Buster Keaton in a small but highly amusing role).
Aside from "A Hard Day's Night", the success of which relies as much on The Beatles themselves as auteurs (Lester claims that the script by Alun Owen was largely jettisoned during filming, and its scripted "quips" were replaced by the real things from The Beatles themselves), Lester's true '60s masterpiece is Petulia (1968) (1968). A corrosive look at the American upper-middle-class and the fragmentation of American society, "Petulia" is one of the great, if unheralded, American films. Propelled by the luminous presence of Julie Christie and the powerhouse performance of George C. Scott, "Petulia" was a success at the box office, although some critics were upset over the blackness of the comedy. It was to prove to be his last great film, as he stumbled soon after it was released. The Bed Sitting Room (1969), a Samuel Beckett-influenced satire based on a play (and script) by Spike Milligan co-starring Dudley Moore and Peter Cooke--from the smash revue "Beyond the Fringe"--was a resounding flop at the box office and among critics, and Lester found himself unemployable.
However, The Three Musketeers (1973), which he shot simultaneously with The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge (1974) for producer Ilya Salkind, resurrected his career. When the Salkinds (Ilya and his father Alexander Salkind) were in the midst of filming Superman (1978) simultaneously with its sequel, Lester was hired as a supervising producer, then took over the filming of the sequel, Superman II (1980), when original director Richard Donner was fired. The sequel was a financial and critical success (as much as comic book films were in the early 1980s), and he was hired to direct the far-less successful Superman III (1983).
At the end of the 1980s, Lester returned to the storyline that had revitalized his career back in the early 1970s, filming a second sequel to "The Three Musketeers." However, after his close friend, actor Roy Kinnear died during the shooting of The Return of the Musketeers (1989), Lester seemed to lose heart with the movie-making business. He has not directed another film.- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Richard Lester is an author/historian and documentary producer who has appeared in a number of major motion pictures, including Silverado with Kevin Costner (Columbia), American Anthem (Columbia), Police Academy 5 (Warner Bros), White of the Eye (Paramount), Operation Nam (Fulvia-Rome) with Ethan Wayne, and in Corpse-Grinders 3 with John Martino (The Godfather). His film acting career began in 1970 in Berlin, Germany in the CBS TV Movie of the Week, Berlin Affair, starring Darren McGavin. Lester appeared in the climactic gunfight scene at Templehof Airport.
Lester is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA).
In the 1980's, Lester worked as a documentary producer for WLRN-TV in Miami, Florida. He is the author of "Buford Pusser's Last Ride: Accident or Murder?" a True Detective magazine story depicted in the Bing Crosby production of Walking Tall: Final Chapter. As an executive producer, Lester has completed a number of documentary projects for Blue Heron International Pictures, including Courtney, Fuzzy Little People, Eyewitness To History, Bogart & Friends, The Cleansing, A Night With Johnny Duncan, Deliver Us From Evil, The Weatherwax Legacy, and Our Forever Friends, and Hollywood & Beyond.
Lester also produced a short horror feature titled Henry Blackhart is Dead, as well as a project for the Producers Guild of America titled The Hit, starring John Martino. In June, 2011, his animal documentary, The Weatherwax Legacy, earned an Honorable Mention from the Los Angeles Movie Awards.
More recently, he served as associate producer on the Spanish production of the comedy/horror spoof, The Corpse-Grinders 3 (Tyrannosaurus Productions, Barcelona).
Lester's current Holocaust documentary, Safe Haven: The Warsaw Zoo, had its world premiere in August 2009 at the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California, where it won a Special Juror Award. It was also named Best Documentary by the Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood. The documentary was broadcast on Israeli television for nine consecutive years.
Lester holds a bachelors degree from The College of William & Mary, and a masters degree from the University of Southern Mississippi.- Additional Crew
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Sound Department
Richard Lester is known for Love Lyfted Me (2017) and Liv (2019).- Director
- Producer
- Sound Department
Richard Lester Rhodes II is known for From Christmas, with Love (2024), Christmas Cards (2024) and Merry Birthday, Happy Christmas (2024).- Richard T. Lester is known for American Car (2015) and The Whistler (2020).
- Actor
- Music Department
Richard Lester is known for Richard Lester: Padre Antonio Soler - Fandango (2014).- Editor
- Editorial Department
Richard Lester is known for King of the Hammers: The Ultra4 Saga (2017), The Royal Mob (2022) and Deep Breath (2022).- Music Department
Charles Richard Lester is known for Gods Behaving Badly (2013) and Monster Makers (2003).- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Richard A. Lester is known for Night of the Snakehead Fish (2003), Stacked Deck (2015) and Shelby Staxx (2014).