Richard Marquand
Richard Alfred Marquand (22 September 1937 – 4 September 1987) was a Welsh film and television director,[1] best known for directing 1983's Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. He also directed the critically acclaimed 1981 drama film Eye of the Needle and the 1985 thriller Jagged Edge.
Richard Marquand | |
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Born | Richard Alfred Marquand 22 September 1937 |
Died | 4 September 1987 49) Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England | (aged
Occupation | Film and television director |
Spouse(s) | Josephine Elwyn-Jones
(m. 1960; div. 1970)Carol Bell (m. 1981) |
Children | 4, including James |
Parent(s) | Hilary Marquand (father) |
Relatives | David Marquand (brother) |
Early life
Marquand was born in Llanishen, Cardiff, Wales. He was the son of Rachel E. (née Rees) and Hilary Marquand, a Labour MP who served as Minister of Pensions and later Minister of Health under Prime Minister Clement Attlee.[2] He is the younger brother of David Marquand, who also served as a Labour MP.
Marquand was educated at Emanuel School, London, the University of Aix-Marseille in France and King's College, Cambridge, where he read modern languages, and where one of his tutors was E. M. Forster. During National Service he studied Mandarin and was posted to Hong Kong where he also read the news on the English language Hong Kong Television.
Career
By the late 1960s, Marquand had begun a career directing television documentaries for the BBC, where he worked on projects such as the 1972 series Search for the Nile[3] and an edition of One Pair of Eyes (1968),[4] about the novelist Margaret Drabble who had been a friend of his at Cambridge.[5] He collaborated with the celebrated foreign correspondent James Cameron on a long-running series called Cameron Country for BBC television and also with John Pilger on a series of films for ITV. In 1979, Marquand incorporated many of his documentary techniques in his biographical television movie Birth of the Beatles. He directed several films specifically for children including the 1977 Emmy winning Big Henry and the Polka Dot Kid.
On the strength of his direction of the 1981 feature, Eye of the Needle, Marquand was hired by writer-producer George Lucas to direct Return of the Jedi.[6] In his commentary track on the DVD, Lucas explains that Marquand "had done some great suspense films and was really good with actors. Eye of the Needle was the film I'd seen that he had done that impressed me the most, it was really nicely done and had a lot of energy and suspense."
Marquand subsequently directed the 1985 courtroom thriller Jagged Edge, starring Jeff Bridges and Glenn Close.
Personal life and death
In 1960, Marquand married screenwriter Josephine Elwyn-Jones, the daughter of Labour MP Elwyn Jones and author and illustrator Pearl Binder. They had two children, Hannah Rachel and James Elwyn, before they divorced in 1970. James Marquand is a film editor who has also worked as a director. In 1981, Marquand married fellow film director Carol Bell, with whom he had another two children, Sam Adair and Molly Joyce. Marquand was a fan of Liverpool Football Club.[3]
According to a 2014 Wales Online interview with his son James, Marquand wrote a screenplay for "a Welsh western" in the late 1970s at the South Wales branch of Pinewood Studios. The screenplay told the story of a young orphan girl in Victorian Mid Wales who enlists two local men to help her wreak revenge on those who killed her father, and Marquand reportedly pitched it to Hollywood producers who expressed interest in making it into a film; however, Marquand declined the offer because the producers insisted the story be relocated to the Rocky Mountains in the United States. In the interview, James expressed interest in adapting his father's screenplay into a film.[7]
Marquand was driving his children home when he suffered an embolism brought on by a stroke. He reached the destination before collapsing, and died in hospital in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on 4 September 1987, 18 days shy of his 50th birthday. His last film, Hearts of Fire, starring Bob Dylan, was released posthumously.[6]
Filmography
Theatrical feature films
Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Director | Producer | Writer | Himself | |||
1978 | The Legacy | Yes | No | No | No | |
1979 | Birth of the Beatles | Yes | No | No | No | |
1981 | Eye of the Needle | Yes | No | No | No | |
1983 | Return of the Jedi | Yes | No | No | Yes | Cameo as "Maj. Marquand" and voice cameo as "EV-9D9" |
1984 | Until September | Yes | No | No | No | |
1985 | Jagged Edge | Yes | No | No | No | |
1987 | Hearts of Fire | Yes | Yes | No | No | Posthumous release |
1993 | Nowhere to Run | No | No | Story | No | Posthumous release |
Short films
Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Director | Producer | Writer | |||
1973 | The Iron Village | Yes | No | No | Documentary |
Between the Anvil and the Hammer | Yes | No | No | Documentary | |
1975 | The Puritan Experience: Making of a New World | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
The Puritan Experience: Forsaking England | Yes | Yes | No | ||
Do Yourself Some Good | Yes | No | No | Documentary |
Television films
Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Director | Producer | Production assistant |
Himself | |||
1964 | The Long Journey | No | No | Yes | No | |
The Colony | No | No | Yes | No | ||
Home for Heroes? | Yes | Yes | No | No | ||
Birmingham '64 | No | Yes | No | No | ||
1970 | Edward II | Yes | No | No | No | Co-directed with Toby Robertson |
E.M. Forster 1879-1970 | No | No | No | Yes | Documentary | |
1983 | Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi | No | No | No | Yes | Documentary |
From 'Star Wars' to 'Jedi': The Making of a Saga | No | No | No | Yes | Documentary |
Television series
Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Director | Producer | Writer | Himself | |||
1963 | This Nation Tomorrow | Yes | No | No | No | Mini-series, 3 episodes |
The Sky at Night | Yes | No | No | No | Documentary, 2 episodes | |
1963–64 | Adventure | Yes | Yes | No | No | Documentary, 2 episodes |
1964–65 | Landmarks | Yes | No | No | No | Documentary mini-series, 2 episodes |
1965 | Inside America | Yes | No | No | No | Mini-series, 4 episodes |
1966 | Inside Ireland | Yes | No | No | No | Mini-series, 2 episodes |
Women, Women, Women | Yes | No | No | No | Mini-series, 2 episodes | |
1967 | Inside Australia | Yes | No | No | Yes | Mini-series: Director (4 episodes) / Narrator (12 episodes) |
1967–70 | One Pair of Eyes | Yes | No | No | No | Mini-series, 4 episodes |
1968–70 | Cameron Country | Yes | Yes | No | No | Director (8 episodes) / Producer (episode ''Nobody Ever Asks Why'') |
1971 | The Search for the Nile | Yes | No | No | No | Mini-series, 2 episodes |
1971–73 | Omnibus | Yes | Yes | No | No | Documentary: Director (2 episodes) / Producer (episode ''That's My Little Masterpiece'') |
1975–76 | Pilger | Yes | Yes | No | No | Documentary: Director (4 episodes) / Producer (episode ''Zap!! The Weapon Is Food'') |
1976 | NBC Special Treat | Yes | No | Yes | No | Director (2 episodes) / Writer (episode ''Luke Was There''); |
1987 | Omnibus | No | No | No | Yes | Documentary (episode ''Getting to Dylan'') |
References
- "Welsh film facts". BBC. 5 March 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
- "Richard Marquand Biography (1937-)". www.filmreference.com.
- Hays, Constance L. (6 September 1987). "RICHARD MARQUAND,MOVIEMAKER, DIES (Published 1987)" – via NYTimes.com.
- One Pair of Eyes: Margaret Drabble, BBC2, 9 March 1968, BBC Archive site
- Margaret Drabble "Once upon a life: Margaret Drabble", The Guardian, 5 December 2010
- Richard Marquand > Biography – AllMovie. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- Bevan, Nathan (2 March 2014). "Star Wars Return of the Jedi director's son hopes to make film from his father's long-lost script". Wales Online. Retrieved 14 November 2016.