Richard Lester

Richard Lester Liebman (born January 19, 1932) is a retired American film director. He spent the majority of his professional life in the United Kingdom and is known for the fast-paced, flamboyant directing he brought to his comedy films, most notably the Beatles' vehicles A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965), and The Knack ...and How to Get It (1965). Originally from Philadelphia, Lester began his career directing television, moving to the United Kingdom in the mid-1950s. He collaborated with Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan, on The Goon Show and The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film. After breaking into film directing through his Beatles collaborations, he helmed various productions including A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), How I Won the War (1967), Petulia (1968), The Three Musketeers (1973) and its two sequels, Robin and Marian (1976), Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979), and the superhero films Superman II (1980) and Superman III (1983). A two-time BAFTA Award nominee, Lester is an Honorary Associate of London Film School and a BFI Fellow. According to the British Film Institute, "if any single director can encapsulate the popular image of Britain in the Swinging Sixties, then it is probably Richard Lester. With his use of flamboyant cinematic devices and liking for zany humour, he captured the vitality, and sometimes the triviality, of the period more vividly than any other director."