Lord Attenborough archive to be given permanent home at the University of Sussex

The University of Sussex is to become the home for Lord Richard Attenborough’s extensive archive of personal and work papers gathered over his long and distinguished career.

The announcement comes as a new portrait of the Oscar-winning director was unveiled at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts on the university’s campus last night.

The portrait is made up of signatures from donors who have supported the long-awaited multi-million pound restoration of the former Gardner Arts Centre including Hollywood actors Denzel Washington and Michael Douglas, film directors Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese and leading British figures including Dame Maggie Smith, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Lord Julian Fellowes, Sir Ben Kingsley and Sir Kenneth Branagh.

The portrait has been created by typographic art pioneer Mike Edwards and was unveiled by Lord Attenborough’s son Michael Attenborough and his brother Sir David Attenborough.

The archive has been initially loaned by the Attenborough family and then will be given a permanent home at the university.

As well as personal letters, film scripts, photographs and posters, the archive includes personal working files, including budgets, casts lists and marketing material, relating to all of the major films that he directed including Gandhi, Chaplin and Oh! What A Lovely War.

The university intends to make the archive publicly accessible which until recently had been stored in the Attenborough family home in London.

His family have said they are keen to ensure the collection is preserved in a place that was important to Lord Attenborough, who was chancellor of the university for ten years and links dating back almost 40 years.

The archive will join the papers of literary figures including Virginia and Leonard Woolf and Rudyard Kipling under the care of the university’s special collections team.

Theatre and artistic director Michael Attenborough said: “I felt my father would have been so thrilled to know that his work will live on in this way and provide many generations to come with an insight into his thinking and the cultural and social impact of his work.

“As my dad, my late sister and I had a close connection with the university, it is fitting that his personal papers will come to rest in a place that will ensure his legacy is upheld with genuine care and internationally recognised expertise.”

Professor Michael Farthing, vice chancellor of the University of Sussex, said: “We are hugely honoured to be chosen to house this prestigious and historically important archive of Lord Attenborough’s work.

“The collection will not only be of significant benefit to the academic activities of staff and students at Sussex, but will provide a valuable opportunity to ensure that as wide an audience as possible gets access to this rich material.”

Donors to the portrait and Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts include: Dame Judi Dench, Sam Neill, Michael Douglas, Lord Julian and Lady Emma Fellowes, Simon Kaye, BAFTA, Alan Grieve OBE, Chelsea FC, Channel Four, Dame Maggie Smith, Sir Ben Kingsley, Monkee McDonald, Lady Bragg, Lord Robert Gavron, Lord Richard and Lady Ruth Rogers, Professor Richard Dawkins & Lalla Ward, Lord Claus Moser, Robert Downey Jr., Pinewood Studios Group, Peter Brook & Natasha Parry, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Twentieth Century Fox Studios, William Goldman, Martin Scorsese, Sir Tom Stoppard, Simon Fanshawe, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sir David Attenborough, Universal Studios, Denzel & Pauletta Washington, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Sir Anthony & Lady Stella Hopkins, Lesley Walker, William Nicholson, George Fenton, Ronnie Taylor, Debra Winger, Nanette Newman & Bryan Forbes, Steven Spielberg, Sir John Major, John Bloom, Sir Richard Eyre, Lord David & Lady Patsy Puttnam, Sir Ridley Scott, Paul Greengrass, United Agents, Kevin McNally and Hayley & Juliet Mills in memory of Sir John and Lady Mills.