Editing Richard III of England (section)

===In culture===
{{Main|Cultural depictions of Richard III of England}}
[[File:The True Tragedy of Richard the Third.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Cover of the 1594 [[quarto]] of the anonymous play, ''[[The True Tragedy of Richard III]]''.]]

Richard III is the protagonist of ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'', one of [[William Shakespeare]]'s history/tragedy plays. Apart from Shakespeare, he appears in many other works of literature. Two other plays of the Elizabethan era predated Shakespeare's work. The Latin-language drama ''[[Richardus Tertius]]'' (first known performance in 1580) by [[Thomas Legge]] is believed to be the first history play written in England. The anonymous play ''[[The True Tragedy of Richard III]]'' ({{circa|1590}}), performed in the same decade as Shakespeare's work, was probably an influence on Shakespeare.{{sfnp|Churchill|1976}} Neither of the two plays places any emphasis on Richard's physical appearance, though the ''True Tragedy'' briefly mentions that he is "A man ill shaped, crooked backed, lame armed" and "valiantly minded, but tyrannous in authority". Both portray him as a man motivated by personal ambition, who uses everyone around him to get his way. [[Ben Jonson]] is also known to have written a play ''Richard Crookback'' in 1602, but it was never published and nothing is known about its portrayal of the king.{{sfnp|McEvoy|2008|p=4}}

[[Marjorie Bowen]]'s 1929 novel ''[[Dickon (novel)|Dickon]]'' set the trend for pro-[[Ricardian (Richard III)|Ricardian]] literature.{{sfnp|Brown|1973|p=369|ps=. "[''Dickon''] tells the story of Richard himself, a 'handsome, earnest young man' who always speaks the truth, is unswervingly loyal to his brother Edward IV, and by an unkind destiny becomes a King of 'deep unhappiness,' plagued by hostile supernatural forces although personally blameless."}} Particularly influential was ''[[The Daughter of Time]]'' (1951) by [[Josephine Tey]], in which a modern detective concludes that Richard III is innocent in the death of the Princes.{{sfnp|Kelly|2000|p=134}}<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Polsky |first=Sara |title=The Detective Novel That Convinced a Generation Richard III Wasn't Evil |url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-detective-novel-that-convinced-a-generation-richard-iii-wasnt-evil |url-access=limited |department=Page-Turner |magazine=[[The New Yorker|New Yorker]] |publisher=Condé Nast |location=New York |date=24 March 2015 |access-date=8 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Dugdale |first=John |date=26 March 2018 |title=The many versions of Richard III: from Shakespeare to Game of Thrones |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/mar/26/the-many-versions-of-richard-iii-from-shakespeare-to-game-of-thrones |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |publisher=<!--Guardian Media Group (omitted as substantially similar to newspaper name)--> |location=London |access-date=10 December 2014}}</ref> Other novelists such as [[Valerie Anand]] in the novel ''Crown of Roses'' (1989) have also offered alternative versions to the theory that he murdered them.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--no credited author--> |title=Book Review: Crown of Roses |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-312-03315-6 |magazine=[[Publishers Weekly]] |publisher=Cahners |location=New York |date=1 January 1989 |access-date=10 December 2018}}</ref> [[Sharon Kay Penman]], in her [[historical fiction|historical novel]] ''[[The Sunne in Splendour]]'', attributes the death of the Princes to the Duke of Buckingham.<ref>{{cite news |last=Johnson |first=George |author-link=George Johnson (writer) |date=2 February 1990 |title=New and Noteworthy: The Sunne in Splendour |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/04/books/new-noteworthy.html |url-access=limited |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |publisher=<!--New York Times Company (omitted as substantially similar to newspaper name)--> |location=<!--New York (omitted as given by newspaper name)--> |access-date=24 November 2014}}</ref> In the mystery novel ''The Murders of Richard III'' by [[Elizabeth Peters]] (1974) the central plot revolves around the debate as to whether Richard III was guilty of these and other crimes.{{sfnp|Peters|2004}} A sympathetic portrayal is given in ''The Founding'' (1980), the first volume in ''[[The Morland Dynasty]]'' series by [[Cynthia Harrod-Eagles]].{{sfnp|Harrod-Eagles|1981}}

One film adaptation of Shakespeare's play ''Richard III'' is the [[Richard III (1955 film)|1955 version]] directed and produced by [[Laurence Olivier]], who also played the lead role.<ref>{{cite web |last=Brooke |first=Michael |title=Richard III (1955) |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/467017/index.html |website=BFI Screenonline |publisher=[[British Film Institute]] |access-date=6 December 2018}}</ref><ref name="VonTunzelmann2015">{{cite news |last=Von Tunzelmann |first=Alex |author-link=Alex von Tunzelmann |date=1 April 2015 |title=Richard III: Laurence Olivier's melodramatic baddie is seriously limp |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/apr/01/richard-iii-laurence-olivier-reel-history-accurate |department=Reel History |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |publisher=<!--Guardian Media Group (omitted as substantially similar to newspaper name)--> |location=London |access-date=24 December 2018}}</ref> Also notable are the [[Richard III (1995 film)|1995 film version]] starring [[Ian McKellen]], set in a fictional 1930s fascist England,<ref>{{cite web |title=Ian McKellen is Richard III |url=http://www.mckellen.com/cinema/richard/notes.htm |website=Sir Ian McKellen: Official Home Page |access-date=8 December 2018}}</ref>{{sfnp|Mitchell|1997|p=135|ps=. "Loncraine and McKellen's film adaptation, set in 1930s England, also explores the question of what would have happened if Hitler had invaded England. ... The House of York in this War of the Roses is depicted as the Nazi Party, and Richard in a Nazi uniform seals his fate as eternity's archvillain."}} and ''[[Looking for Richard]]'', a 1996 documentary film directed by [[Al Pacino]], who plays the title character as well as himself.<ref>{{cite web |title=Looking for Richard |work=Festival de Cannes |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/4718/year/1996.html |publisher=[[Cannes Film Festival]] |access-date=8 December 2018}}</ref>{{sfnp|Aune|2006}} The play has been adapted for television on several occasions.<ref>{{cite web |last=Brooke |first=Michael |title=Tragedy of Richard III, The (1983) |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/527656/index.html |website=BFI Screenonline |publisher=[[British Film Institute]] |access-date=11 December 2018}}</ref>{{sfnp|Griffin|1966|pp=385–387}}<ref name="guardian-cumberbatchproves">{{cite news |last=Billington |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Billington (critic) |date=21 May 2016 |title=Benedict Cumberbatch proves a superb villain in The Hollow Crown's Richard III |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2016/may/21/benedict-cumberbatch-the-hollow-crown-richard-iii |department=Theatre Blog |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |publisher=<!--Guardian Media Group (omitted as substantially similar to newspaper name)--> |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180402120740/https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2016/may/21/benedict-cumberbatch-the-hollow-crown-richard-iii |archive-date=2 April 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=5 December 2018}}</ref>
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