Editing Ralph Richardson (section)

===West End and Broadway===
{{Hatnote|Details of Richardson's work, 1932–44: [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrS32|Stage]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrR32|Radio]], [[List of roles and awards of Ralph Richardson#rrF32|Film]]}}
Richardson returned to the Malvern Festival in August 1932. He was in four plays, the last of which, [[George Bernard Shaw|Bernard Shaw]]'s ''[[Too True to Be Good]]'', transferred to the [[Noël Coward Theatre|New Theatre]] in London the following month. The play was not liked by audiences and ran for only forty-seven performances, but Richardson, in Agate's phrase, "ran away with the piece", and established himself as a West End star.<ref>Miller, p. 52</ref> In 1933 he had his first speaking part in a film, playing the villain, Nigel Hartley, in ''[[The Ghoul (1933 film)|The Ghoul]]'', which starred Cedric Hardwicke and [[Boris Karloff]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120712174940/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b71e71222 "The Ghoul"], British Film Institute, retrieved 18 January 2014</ref> The following year he was cast in his first starring role in a film, as the hero in ''[[The Return of Bulldog Drummond]]''.<ref name=roles/> ''The Times'' commented, "Mr Ralph Richardson makes [[Bulldog Drummond|Drummond]] as brave and stupid on the screen as he is in print."<ref>"New films in London", ''The Times'', 30 April 1934, p. 12</ref>{{#tag:ref|''The Observer''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s review of the film read, ''in toto'', "Hollywood is reported to be anxious because this B.I.P. production, with Ralph Richardson, has forestalled their own new Bulldog Drummond picture, with Ronald Colman. Hollywood need not worry."<ref>"Some new films of the week", ''The Observer'', 29 April 1934, p. 24</ref> Richardson returned to the Bulldog Drummond series in a different role in the 1935 film ''[[Bulldog Jack]]''.<ref name=NYT>{{cite web|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=Bulldog Jack (1935) The Screen; 'Alias Bulldog Drummond', a Comic Melodrama From England, Opens at the Globe Theatre|first=Andre|last=Sennwald|date=10 September 1935|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E01E7DA1E3DE53ABC4852DFBF66838E629EDE}}</ref>|group= n}}

[[File:Katharine Cornell.jpg|thumb|alt=Head and shoulders shot of youngish woman|upright|[[Katharine Cornell]], leading lady in Richardson's [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] debut]]

Over the next two years Richardson appeared in six plays in London ranging from ''[[Peter and Wendy|Peter Pan]]'' (as Mr Darling and Captain Hook) to ''Cornelius'', an allegorical play written for and dedicated to him by [[J. B. Priestley|J.{{space}}B.{{space}}Priestley]].<ref>O'Connor, pp. 42 and 74</ref> ''Cornelius'' ran for two months; this was less than expected, and left Richardson with a gap in engagements in the second half of 1935. He filled it by accepting an invitation from [[Katharine Cornell]] and [[Guthrie McClintic]] to play Mercutio in their production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' on a US tour and on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]. Romeo was played by [[Maurice Evans (actor)|Maurice Evans]] and Juliet by Cornell.<ref>[https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F17F73C5A107A93C6AB1789D95F418385F9 "Romeo and Juliet"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 24 December 1935, p. 10</ref> Richardson's performance greatly impressed American critics, and Cornell invited him to return to New York to co-star with her in ''Macbeth'' and ''Antony and Cleopatra'',<ref>"The Theatres", ''The Times'', 13 January 1936, p. 10</ref> though nothing came of this.<ref name=roles/>

In 1936, [[London Films]] released ''[[Things to Come]]'', in which Richardson played the swaggering warlord "The Boss". His performance parodied the Italian dictator [[Benito Mussolini]] so effectively that the film was immediately banned in Italy.<ref>Kulik, p. 153</ref> The producer was [[Alexander Korda]]; the two men formed a long and mutually beneficial friendship. Richardson later said of Korda, "Though not so very much older than I am, I regarded him in a way as a father, and to me he was as generous as a prince."<ref>Kulik, p. 163</ref> In May 1936 Richardson and Olivier jointly directed and starred in a new piece by Priestley, ''[[Bees on the Boatdeck]]''. Both actors won excellent notices, but the play, an allegory of Britain's decline, did not attract the public.<ref>Hobson, p. 51</ref> It closed after four weeks, the last in a succession of West End productions in which Richardson appeared to much acclaim but which were box-office failures.<ref>O'Connor, p. 80; and Morley, p. 328</ref> In August of the same year he finally had a long-running star part, the title role in [[Barré Lyndon]]'s [[comedy thriller]], ''[[The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse (play)|The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse]]'', which played for 492 performances, closing in October 1937.<ref>"Theatres", ''The Times'', 16 October 1937, p. 10</ref>

After a short run in ''The Silent Knight'', described by Miller as "a Hungarian fantasy in rhymed verse set in the fifteenth century", Richardson returned to the Old Vic for the 1937–38 season, playing Bottom once again and switching parts in ''Othello'', playing the title role, with Olivier as Iago. The director, [[Tyrone Guthrie]], wanted to experiment with the theory that Iago's villainy is driven by suppressed homosexual love for Othello. Olivier was willing to co-operate, but Richardson was not; audiences and most critics failed to spot the supposed motivation of Olivier's Iago, and Richardson's Othello seemed underpowered.<ref>Neill, p. 78</ref> O'Connor believes that Richardson did not succeed with Othello or Macbeth because of the characters' single-minded "blind driving passion – too extreme, too inhuman", which was incomprehensible and alien to him. It was for the same reason, in O'Connor's view, that he never attempted the title roles in ''Hamlet'' or ''[[King Lear]]''.<ref>O'Connor, p. 173</ref>

Richardson made his television debut in January 1939, reprising his 1936 stage role of the chief engineer in ''Bees on the Boatdeck''.<ref>"Broadcasting", ''The Times'', 23 January 1939, p. 19</ref> His last stage part in the 1930s was Robert Johnson, an [[Everyman]] figure, in Priestley's ''Johnson Over Jordan'' directed by [[Basil Dean]].<ref>Clough, p. 139</ref> It was an experimental piece, using music (by [[Benjamin Britten]]) and dance as well as dialogue, and was another production in which Richardson was widely praised but that did not prosper at the box-office. After it closed, in May 1939, he did not act on stage for more than five years.<ref name=m328>Morley, p. 328</ref>

====Second World War====
At the outbreak of war Richardson joined the [[Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve]] as a [[sub-lieutenant]] pilot. He had taken flying lessons during the 1930s and had logged 200 hours of flying time, but, though a notoriously reckless driver, he admitted to being a timid pilot.<ref>Clough, p. 114; and Gielgud (2000), p. 136</ref><ref name=m77/> He counted himself lucky to have been accepted, but the [[Fleet Air Arm]] was short of pilots.<ref name=m77>Miller, pp. 77–78</ref> He rose to the rank of [[lieutenant-commander]]. His work was mostly routine administration, probably because of "the large number of planes which seemed to fall to pieces under his control", through which he acquired the nickname "[[RAF slang#P|Pranger]]" Richardson.<ref name=dnb/> He served at several bases in the south of England, and in April 1941, at the [[RNAS Lee-on-Solent (HMS Daedalus)|Royal Naval Air Station, Lee-on-Solent]], he was able to welcome Olivier, newly commissioned as a temporary sub-lieutenant. Olivier rapidly eclipsed Richardson's record for pranging.<ref>Miller, p. 79</ref>

In 1942, on his way to visit his wife at the cottage where she was cared for by a devoted couple, Richardson crashed his motor-bike and was in hospital for several weeks. Kit was at that point mobile enough to visit him, but later in the year her condition worsened and in October she died. He was intensely lonely, though the camaraderie of naval life was some comfort.<ref name=m83/> In 1944 he married again. His second wife was the actress [[Meriel Forbes]], a member of the [[Johnston Forbes-Robertson|Forbes-Robertson]] theatrical family.<ref name=m83>Miller, pp. 83–84</ref> The marriage brought him lifelong happiness and a son, Charles (1945–98), who became a television stage manager.<ref name=dnb/>

During the war Richardson compered occasional morale-boosting shows at the [[Royal Albert Hall]] and elsewhere,<ref>O'Connor, p. 107</ref> and made one short film and three full-length ones, including ''[[The Silver Fleet]]'', in which he played a Dutch Resistance hero, and ''[[The Volunteer (1944 film)|The Volunteer]]'', a propaganda film in which he appeared as himself.<ref name=roles/>

Throughout the war Guthrie had striven to keep the Old Vic company going, even after German bombing in 1942 left the theatre a near-ruin. A small troupe toured the provinces, with Sybil Thorndike at its head. By 1944, with the tide of the war turning, Guthrie felt it time to re-establish the company in a London base, and invited Richardson to head it. Richardson made two stipulations: first, as he was unwilling to seek his own release from the forces, the governing board of the Old Vic should explain to the authorities why it should be granted; secondly, that he should share the acting and management in a triumvirate. Initially he proposed Gielgud and Olivier as his colleagues, but the former declined, saying, "It would be a disaster, you would have to spend your whole time as referee between Larry and me."<ref>Croall, p. 306</ref>{{#tag:ref|Gielgud, like almost everyone in theatrical circles, called Olivier "Larry", but Richardson invariably addressed Olivier as "Laurence". This striking formality did not extend to Gielgud, whom Richardson always called "Johnny".<ref>Miller, p. 32</ref>|group= n}} It was finally agreed that the third member would be the stage director [[John Burrell (theatre director)|John Burrell]]. The Old Vic governors approached the Royal Navy to secure the release of Richardson and Olivier; the [[Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty|Sea Lords]] consented, with, as Olivier put it, "a speediness and lack of reluctance which was positively hurtful."<ref>Holden, p. 184</ref>