Richard Lester

Richard Lester Liebman (born January 19, 1932) is a retired American film director based in the United Kingdom, famous for his comedic and campy tone style of shooting movies and for his work in both USA and UK cinema. He is best known for directing the Beatles' films A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965), and the superhero films Superman II (1980) and Superman III (1983). His other notable films as director include The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1959), The Knack ...and How to Get It (1965), 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, as well as Robin and Marian (1976), and Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979). He is an Honorary Associate of London Film School. 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." Early years and career Richard Lester Liebman was born to a Jewish family in Philadelphia. A child prodigy, he graduated from the William Penn Charter School, a Quaker school in Philadelphia, and began studies at the University of Pennsylvania at the age of 15, graduating with a degree in clinical psychology in 1951.