Ian Richardson Tribute

Born in Edinburgh, Richardson was educated at Balgreen Primary School and Tynecastle High School in the city,[1] prior to training at the College of Dramatic Arts in Glasgow. After a period at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre (at what is now the Old Rep), he subsequently appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company, of which he was a founder member, from 1960 to 1975.
Richardson's claim to greatness lies in his stage performances. His first engagement after training was with Birmingham Repertory Theatre, where his performance of Hamlet led to an offer of a place with the RSC. He was a versatile member of the company for more than fifteen years, playing villainy, comedy and tragedy to equal effect. He played the part of Jean-Paul Marat in Peter Brook's production of the Marat/Sade in London and on Broadway in 1964 and would return to the part for the 1967 film version. It was, however, for Shakespeare's great historical roles that he will be chiefly remembered. His Richard II (alternating the parts of the king and Bolingbroke with Richard Pasco) in 1974, and repeated in New York and London in the following year, set a standard unequalled for a generation: more than thirty years later notable performances of King Richard were still being compared with the production.
On leaving the RSC he played Professor Henry Higgins in the 1976 Broadway revival of My Fair Lady and received a Tony nomination. He also appeared on Broadway in 1981 in the original production of Edward Albee's play Lolita, an adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's book, but this is not regarded as having been a success.
In the early 2000s Richardson joined Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Donald Sinden and Dame Diana Rigg in an international tour of The Hollow Crown. A Canadian tour substituted Alan Howard for Jacobi and Vanessa Redgrave for Rigg. He also appeared in The Creeper by Pauline Macaulay at the Playhouse Theatre in London, and on tour.
He played one musical role on film - the Priest in Man of La Mancha, the 1972 screen version of the hit Broadway musical. In 1987, he played a variation on this role, when he portrayed the Bishop of Motopo in the non-musical telefilm Monsignor Quixote, based on Graham Greene's modernized take on the Quixote story.
He made many film appearances, including Brazil (1985), Dark City (1998), Polonius in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), Martin Landau's butler in the Halle Berry film B*A*P*S (1997) and Cruella de Vil's solicitor, Mr. Torte, in the live action movie 102 Dalmatians (2000).
Richardson also gave memorable TV performances: Thes included Bill Haydon ("Tailor") in the BBC adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Sir Godber Evans in Channel 4's adaptation of Porterhouse Blue; and Major Neuheim in the award-winning Private Schulz. He also starred in Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes (a BBC production also screened in PBS's Mystery! series in the United States), playing Dr. Joseph Bell, the mentor of Arthur Conan Doyle, a role he welcomed as an opportunity to play a character from his native Edingburgh.[3] He had earlier played Sherlock Holmes in two 1980s television versions of The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Sign of Four. In 2003 he played the recurring role of the villainous Canon Black in the short-lived BBC fantasy series Strange and as "Lord Groan" in the BBC production Gormenghast (2000).
Richardson won the BAFTA Best Television Actor Award for House of Cards, and was nominated for the two sequels To Play the King and The Final Cut as well as for the 1992 film An Ungentlemanly Act.
He was also familiar to American television viewers as the man in the Rolls-Royce who asks "Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?" in the commercials for Grey Poupon Dijon mustard.
In 2005, he took on the role of a curiously detached Chancellor in the highly successful TV drama Bleak House. In June 2006 he was made an honorary Doctor of the University of Stirling. The honour was conferred on him by the university's chancellor, fellow actor Dame Diana Rigg. In December 2006, Richardson starred in Sky One's two-part adaptation of the Terry Pratchett novel Hogfather. He voiced the main character of the novel, Death, the Grim Reaper who steps in to take over the role of the Father Christmas-like Hogfather.
He died suddenly on the morning of February 9, 2007, aged 72. According to his agent, he had not been ill and had in fact been due to start filming an episode of Midsomer Murders the following week.
He is survived by his wife, Maroussia Frank, also an actor, and two sons, one of whom, Miles, is an actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

source: en.wikipedia.org