1. Winning Best Picture & Best Director (Gandhi, 1982)
With Oh! What A Lovely War, Young Winston and A Bridge Too Far, Richard Attenborough more than proved himself as a competent director of both biographical films and large-scale productions. Despite this, however, he struggled to secure funding and locations for his dream project, a cinematic retelling of the life of Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi, which he'd been trying to bring to the screen since 1962. In 1976, before the release of A Bridge Too Far, Attenborough was able to secure support for the project from Warner Brothers, though a state of emergency in India declared by Indira Gandhi (the-then Prime Minister of India and daughter of Mohandas' contemporary and fellow figure in the Indian independence movement Jawaharlal Nehru) rendered filming impossible until 1980. Attenborough then secured funding through Goldcrest Films, the National Film Development Coroporation of India and by selling his and his wife's rights to 10% of the profits from The Mousetrap, the 1952 play (still running to this day) that they'd originally starred in. Starring Ben Kingsley (actually born Krishna Bhanji of Indian descent) in the lead role, the simply-titled Gandhi depicted the life of the Mohatma from his early days as a lawyer in racist South Africa to his non-violent struggle and ultimate assassination in the wake of India's recognition as an independent state. Notable for its use of 300000 extras in the scenes depicting Gandhi's funeral, the film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, winning eight of them. Two of these wins were for Best Picture and Best Director and both were received by Attenborough. Gandhi ultimately transpired to be the only film that Attenborough would personally receive an Academy Award nomination for, though his next three films, Cry Freedom (about black activist Steve Biko), Chaplin (a biopic of the 'Little Tramp') and Shadowlands (about C.S Lewis) all received nominations in non-directorial categories. Gandhi always remained the crowning jewel in Attenborough's filmography, however, given how its success cemented his place in cinematic history.
