Richard Lester

Richard Lester Liebman (born January 19, 1932),[1] commonly referred to as Dick Lester, is a retired American film director based in the United Kingdom. He is known for his work with the Beatles in the 1960s and his work on the Superman film series II and III in the 1980s.[2]

This article is about the film director. For the Olympic rower, see Richard Lester (rower). For professor of nuclear engineering, see Richard K. Lester. For the musician, see Richard Lester (harpsichordist).
Dick Lester
Lester in Bologna in 2014
Born
Richard Lester Liebman

(1932-01-19) January 19, 1932
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationFilm director
Years active1960–1991

Lester is an Honorary Associate of London Film School.[3]

Early years and Career

Richard Lester Liebman was born to a Jewish family[4] in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A child prodigy, he began studies at the University of Pennsylvania[5] at the age of 15.[6]

American television

Lester started in television in 1950, working as a stage hand, floor manager, assistant director and then director in less than a year, because no one else was around who knew how to do the work.[7]

Lester directed Action in the Afternoon an American western television series that aired live on CBS from February 2, 1953 to January 29, 1954. The series originated from the studios and back lot of WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, and was broadcast Monday through Friday regardless of the weather. The half-hour series aired variously at 3:30 pm or 4:00 pm, throughout its run.[8]

British television

In 1953, Lester moved to London and began work as a director in television, working for the low-budget producers the Danziger Brothers on episodes of Mark Saber, a half-hour detective series.[6]

He worked as a writer on Curtains for Harry (1955)[9] and, for a few weeks, The Barris Beat (1956).[10]

A variety show he produced caught the eye of Peter Sellers, who enlisted Lester's help in translating The Goon Show to television as The Idiot Weekly, Price 2d (1956). It was a hit, as were two follow-up shows, A Show Called Fred (1956) and Son of Fred (1956).[7][11][12]

Lester recalled that A Show Called Fred was "broadcast live and that's why I went into film directing where you can do a second take!"[13]

Lester wrote and directed episodes of the TV series After Hours (1958).[14]

Early films

Lester received acclaim with a short film he made with Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers, The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1959).[6] He did another short, The Sound of Jazz (1959).

Lester's first feature as director was It's Trad, Dad! (1962),[15] a low budget musical which consisted of a series of music acts including John Leyton and Gene Vincent.[16]

His second was The Mouse on the Moon (1963) starring Margaret Rutherford, a sequel to The Mouse That Roared (1959).[17] He returned to TV, directing episodes of Room at the Bottom (1964).[18]

The Beatles

The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film was a favourite of the Beatles, particularly John Lennon. When the band members were contracted to make a feature film, they chose Lester from a list of possible directors. A Hard Day's Night (1964) showed an exaggerated and simplified version of the Beatles' characters, and proved to be an effective marketing tool. Many of its stylistic innovations survive today as the conventions of music videos, in particular the multi-angle filming of a live performance. Lester was sent an award from MTV as "Father of the Music Video".[19]

A Hard Day's Night was a huge critical and commercial success. Lester then directed the first of several quintessential "swinging" films, the sex comedy The Knack ...and How to Get It (1965). Lester's first of three films with actor Michael Crawford, it won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.[20]

Lester followed this with the Beatles film Help! (1965).[21] A spoof of the popular James Bond spy thrillers, it was another huge commercial success.

Lester received a Hollywood offer to direct the film adaptation of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966).[6]

He then made the darkly surreal anti-war movie How I Won the War (1967) co-starring Crawford and Lennon, which he referred to as an "anti-anti-war movie". Lester commented that anti-war movies still took the concept of war seriously, contrasting "bad" war crimes with wars fought for "good" causes like the liberation from Nazism or, at that time, Communism, whereas he set out to deconstruct it to show war as fundamentally opposed to humanity. Although set in World War II, the film serves as an oblique reference to the Vietnam War and at one point, breaking the fourth wall, references this directly.

Lester made Petulia (1968) with Julie Christie and George C. Scott, and a score by John Barry.[22] He returned to his anti-war theme with the post-apocalyptic black comedy The Bed Sitting Room (1969),[23] based on a play by Spike Milligan and John Antrobus.[24]

How I Won the War and Bed Sitting Room performed poorly at the box office and Lester found himself unable to raise finance for a series of projects, including an adaptation of the Flashman novels.[25]

Swashbucklers

Lester's career revived when he was hired by Alexander and Ilya Salkind to do a version of The Three Musketeers (1973), based on a script by George MacDonald Fraser. The producers decided to split the first film into two after principal photography was completed, the second being called The Four Musketeers (1974). Many of the cast principals complained the Salkinds, stating that they were only contracted to make one film, they finally arrived at an agreement to avoid attorneys' fees.[26] Both movies were critically and commercially successful.[27]

Lester was called in at the last minute as a replacement director on Juggernaut (1974), a thriller set on a cruise liner.

The success of the Musketeers films enabled Lester to raise finance for Royal Flash (1975), based on the second of the Flashman novels by MacDonald Fraser.

Lester followed this with Robin and Marian (1976), from a script by James Goldman, starring Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn. He then made The Ritz (1976) based on a play by Terrence McNally.[27]

Lester also directed Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979) and Cuba (1979) with Connery; neither film was successful commercially.[6]

Superman

Lester's next film was a huge success: Superman II. Production on Superman II began before Superman was completed, and had to be halted to concentrate on getting the first movie completed. After the first Superman film was released in late 1978, the Salkinds went back into production on Superman II without informing Superman director Richard Donner; they placed Lester behind the camera for the completion of the rest of the 25 percent left of the film. Although Donner had shot 75 percent, a majority of what was planned for the film, much of his footage was jettisoned or reshot during Lester's time on the project.[28]

Gene Hackman, who played Lex Luthor, refused to return for the reshoots, so Lester instead used a stunt double and an impersonator to loop Luthor's lines onto footage of Hackman shot by Donner.[29] Some of Donner's original footage was later integrated into television versions of the film. In November 2006, Donner's footage was reedited into Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, consisting primarily of his footage with Lester's footage used only for scenes not shot during Donner's principal photography.[28]

Lester directed Superman III (1983), but this third installment was not as well received as its predecessors,[30] yet was considered a box office success, ranking 14th in that year Worldwide Box Office.[31]

Later films

Lester directed the comedy Finders Keepers (1984), starring Michael O'Keefe, Louis Gossett Jr., and Beverly D'Angelo. The film was a flop, though today it is notable as one of the early films featuring Jim Carrey.

In 1988, Lester reunited most of the Three Musketeers cast to film another sequel titled The Return of the Musketeers, released the following year. During filming in Spain, actor Roy Kinnear, a close friend of Lester, died after falling from a horse. Lester finished the film, then effectively retired from directing at age 56, returning only to direct the concert film of Paul McCartney titled Get Back (1991).[27]

In 1993, he presented Hollywood U.K., a five-part series on British cinema in the 1960s for the BBC.[32]

Director Steven Soderbergh is among many who have called for a reappraisal of Lester's work and influence. He wrote Getting Away with It, published in 1999, about Lester's career,[33] which consists of interviews with Lester.

In 2012 the British Film Institute awarded Lester a Fellowship, the British film industry's highest honour, in recognition of his work. The award was presented in a public ceremony on March 22 at the National Film Theatre, and was followed by a screening of Lester's Robin and Marian. The citation for his fellowship recognises that "Richard Lester has created a unique body of work which has enriched the lives of millions with his brilliantly surreal humour and innovative style. Although born in America he has lived in Britain for 60 years and created some of the most enduring and influential creations of British cinema."[34]

Personal life

In Soderbergh's book Getting Away with It, Lester reveals that he is a committed atheist and debates with Soderbergh (then an agnostic), largely based on the arguments of Richard Dawkins.[33] During Lester's time at the University of Pennsylvania, he was a member of the Beta Rho Chapter of the Sigma Nu fraternity.[35]

Filmography

Further reading
  • Combs, Richard (2015-07-01). "It's bound to end in tears.(discussing about movie director Richard Lester and his movies)". Film Comment. Film Society of Lincoln Center. 51 (4): 42(4). ISSN 0015-119X.
  • Rosenfeldt, Diane (1978). Richard Lester: A guide to references and resources (A Reference publication in film). G. K. Hall. ISBN 978-0816181858.
  • Sinyard, Neil (February 1985). The Films of Richard Lester. Barnes & Noble Imports. ISBN 978-0389205548.
  • Yule, Andrew (April 1995). Richard Lester and the Beatles: A Complete Biography of the Man Who Directed a Hard Day's Night and Help!. Donald I Fine. ISBN 978-1556114359.
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References
  1. Profile, The Times, January 19, 2009; retrieved January 9, 2010.
  2. "Richard Lester". Senses of Cinema. Retrieved October 16, 2012.
  3. "London Film School honours Richard Lester, Rita Tushingham and Philip French at the 2011 Annual Show". London Film School. 2011-12-12. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  4. Haaretz: "Superman, Man of Schlemiel? - Superman, the invention of two U.S. Jews, is a profoundly Jewish character whose film history is entwined with that of American Jewry" by Nathan Abrams June 16, 2013
  5. "About Us". University of Pennsylvania, Cinema Studies. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  6. D., Chris (2016-08-02). "Richard Lester: Philly to Piccadilly". New Beverly Cinema - The premier revival theater in Los Angeles. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  7. Soderbergh, Steven (November 8, 1999). "Richard Lester interview". The Guardian. Retrieved April 6, 2008.
  8. Wilkinson, Gerry (2009). "Action in the Afternoon". Broadcast pioneers of Philadelphia. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  9. "Curtains for Harry (1955)". BFI (British Film Institute). Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  10. Allan, Blaine (1996). "The Barris Beat". Queen's University. Archived from the original on 11 September 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  11. Scudamore, Pauline (1985). Spike Milligan: A Biography. London, UK: Granada. pp. 169–70. ISBN 0-246-12275-7.
  12. Lewis, Roger (1995). The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. London, UK: Arrow Books. ISBN 0-09-974700-6.
  13. Ventham, Maxine (2002). "Richard Lester". Spike Milligan: His Part in Our Lives. London, UK: Robson. p. 72. ISBN 1-86105-530-7.
  14. "After hours (1958)". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  15. Gelly, Dave (2014). An Unholy Row. Equinox. p. 135.
  16. It's Trad, Dad! (1962) - Richard Lester | Cast and Crew | AllMovie, retrieved 2020-06-24
  17. Butler, Craig. "The Mouse on the Moon". Allmovie. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  18. "Richard Lester". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  19. Mansfield, Brian (2015-07-29). "'Help!' at 50: Looking back at the Beatles". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  20. QUINN, Thomas. "THE KNACK' WINS TOP CANNES PRIZE". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  21. Lewis (1995) provides citations for the television shows & films: A Show Called Fred, Son of Fred, Hard Day's Night, Help!, Mouse on the Moon, Running, Jumping Standing Still, and Three Musketeers
  22. "Festival de Cannes: Petulia". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
  23. French, Philip (2009-06-20). "Philip French's classic DVD: The Bed Sitting Room". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  24. "Plays by John Antrobus". Doollee. Archived from the original on 2007-10-22. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
  25. Vagg, Stephen (18 May 2020). "Trying to Make a Case for Royal Flash". Diabolique.
  26. Salmans, Sandra (1983-07-17). "Film View; the Salkind Heroes Wear Red and Fly High". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  27. Sobczynski, Peter (2015-08-05). "Keep Moving!: The Films of Richard Lester. | Features |". Roger Ebert.com. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  28. "The Story Behind Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut Is All About Superegos". AMC. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  29. Weldon, Glen (2013). Superman: The Unauthorized Biography. Wiley. p. 200. ISBN 978-1118341841.
  30. Ebert, Roger (1983-07-17). "Superman III movie review & film summary (1983)". Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  31. "1983 Worldwide Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  32. Hollywood U.K., IMDB. Accessed July 22, 2019
  33. Soderbergh, Steven (1999), Getting away with it, or, The further adventures of the luckiest bastard you ever saw (2nd ed.), Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0-571-19025-6
  34. "Lester Awarded BFI Fellowship" (PDF). Bfi.org.uk. 23 March 2012.
  35. Cramer, Jr., Arthur A. (ed.). "Sigma Nu. Class of 1951". The 1950 record. University of Pennsylvania (PDF). LXXVIII. Campus Publishing. pp. 240–241.
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