Legendary actor Richard Attenborough dies age 90

Legendary British actor and film director Richard Attenborough died yesterday at the age of 90.

Attenborough, older brother of naturalist David, was one of Britain’s leading actors, before becoming a highly successful director.

In a career that spanned six decades, he appeared in films including Brighton Rock, World War Two prisoner of war thriller The Great Escape and later in dinosaur blockbuster Jurassic Park. As a director he was probably best known for Gandhi, which won two Oscars.

He had been in a nursing home with his wife for a number of years.

His son confirmed that he died yesterday lunchtime and it is expected that the family will make a statement today.

Lord ‘Dickie’ Attenborough, as he was fondly known, was born in Cambridgeshire in 1923 and educated at Wyggeston Grammar School and Emmanuel College Cambridge.

British PM David Cameron paid tribute in a statement which read: “His acting in Brighton Rock was brilliant, his directing of Gandhi was stunning — Richard Attenborough was one of the greats of cinema.”