Richard Marquand was a Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 film director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 best known for directing the 1983 blockbuster Star Wars

Star Wars

Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

film, Return of the Jedi

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand and written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. It is the third film released in the Star Wars saga, and the sixth in terms of the series' internal chronology...

.

Early life

Marquand was born in Llanishen

Llanishen

Llanishen is a district in the north of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. Llanishen is well-known as the home of the 'Tax Offices', the tallest buildings in north Cardiff and a landmark for miles around...

, Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

, the younger brother of the political writer David Marquand

David Marquand

David Ian Marquand FBA, FRHistS, FRSA is a British academic and former Labour Party Member of Parliament .Born in Cardiff, Marquand was educated at Emanuel School, Magdalen College, Oxford, St. Antony’s College, Oxford, and at the University of California, Berkeley...

 and the son of Rachel E. (née

Married and maiden names

A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....

 Rees) and Hilary Marquand

Hilary Marquand

Hilary Adair Marquand was a British Labour Party politician.He was educated at Cardiff High School and at University College, Cardiff where he studied history and economics...

, who was a Labour member of Parliament. Richard Marquand was educated at Emanuel School

Emanuel School

Emanuel School is a co-educational independent school in Battersea, south-west London. The school was founded by Lady Dacre and Elizabeth I in 1594. Today it has some 710 pupils, aged between ten and eighteen.-History:...

, the Université d'Aix-Marseille

University of Aix-Marseille

Aix-Marseille University is a public university in France created by the merger of the University of Provence, the University of the Mediterranean and the Paul Cézanne University...

 in Marseille, France and King's College

King's College, Cambridge

King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....

, Cambridge

Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

.

Career

By the late 1960s, Marquand had begun a career writing and directing television documentaries for the BBC, where he worked on projects such as the 1972 series Search for the Nile and an edition of One Pair of Eyes (1968), about the novelist Margaret Drabble who had been a friend of his at Cambridge.

In 1979, Marquand incorporated many of his finely-honed documentary techniques in his dramatized TV movie, The Birth of the Beatles.

On the strength of his direction of the 1981 feature, Eye of the Needle

Eye of the Needle (film)

Eye of the Needle is a 1981 film directed by Richard Marquand, based on the novel of the same title by Ken Follett, and starring Donald Sutherland...

, Marquand was hired by producer George Lucas

George Lucas

George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...

 to direct Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand and written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. It is the third film released in the Star Wars saga, and the sixth in terms of the series' internal chronology...

. 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 is the only non-American to have directed a Star Wars movie.

Marquand subsequently directed the 1985 courtroom thriller Jagged Edge

Jagged Edge (film)

Jagged Edge is a film starring Glenn Close, Jeff Bridges, and Peter Coyote. Robert Loggia received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role in this film. It is a courtroom thriller, written by Joe Eszterhas, and directed by Richard Marquand...

, starring Jeff Bridges

Jeff Bridges

Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....

 and Glenn Close

Glenn Close

Glenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...

.

In 1987, Marquand died of a stroke

Stroke

A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...

 and a heart attack at the age of 49. His last film, Hearts of Fire

Hearts of Fire

Hearts of Fire is a 1987 American musical drama film starring Bob Dylan, Fiona Flanagan and Rupert Everett. The film was essentially a vehicle for Dylan based on his success as a rock musician...

, was released posthumously.

His son James Marquand

James Marquand

James Marquand is a Welsh film editor and director. As a child, much of his time was spent on film sets observing his father Richard Marquand . Later, he worked as an editor on the Joe Eszterhas penned Hearts of Fire. His first short film, The Lesson , was nominated for a BAFTA Kodak Award...

 is also a director.

External links