Richard Marquand

Richard Alfred Marquand was a Welsh film and television director whose career spanned the latter half of the 20th century, blending British documentary instincts with Hollywood spectacle. Born in Llanishen, Cardiff on 22 September 1937, he was the son of economist and Labour MP Hilary Marquand and grew up in a politically active family, with his brother David later becoming an MP as well. After studying modern languages at King's College, Cambridge—where the novelist E. M. Forster was one of his tutors—Marquand served National Service in Hong Kong, learning Mandarin and briefly broadcasting for the English‑language television service. He entered the BBC in the mid‑1960s, directing documentaries such as the acclaimed 1972 series Search for the Nile and the television film Birth of the Beatles, while also collaborating with journalists like James Cameron and John Pilger on investigative series. His transition to feature films began with the 1977 children’s movie Big Henry and the Polka Dot Kid, followed by the tense World‑War‑II thriller Eye of the Needle (1981), which caught the attention of George Lucas and earned Marquand a Hugo Award for his later work on Return of the Jedi (1983), the climactic finale of the original Star Wars saga. Afterward he directed the courtroom drama Jagged Edge (1985) and the romantic adventure Until September, demonstrating a versatile command of genre. Marquand’s personal life was marked by two marriages—to screenwriter Josephine Elwyn‑Jones (1960‑1970) and director Carol Bell (from 1981)—and four children, including film editor James Marquand. A lifelong Liverpool FC supporter, he suffered a fatal stroke in August 1987 and died on 4 September 1987, leaving behind a legacy of technically adept, emotionally resonant cinema.