Ridley Scott
1 FOLLOWER • 83 CREDITS • NOV 30, 1937 • 87
Biography
Sir Ridley Scott (born November 30, 1937) is an English filmmaker. He was raised in an Army family, meaning that for most of his early life, his father — an officer in the Royal Engineers — was absent. Ridley's older brother, Frank, joined the Merchant Navy when he was still young and the pair had little contact. During this time the family moved around, living in (among other areas) Cumbria, Wales and Germany. He has a younger brother, Tony, also a film director. After the Second World War, the Scott family moved back to their native north-east England, eventually settling in Teesside (whose industrial landscape would later inspire similar scenes in Blade Runner). He enjoyed watching films, and his favourites include Lawrence of Arabia, Citizen Kane and Seven Samurai. Scott studied in Teesside from 1954 to 1958, at Grangefield Grammar School and later in West Hartlepool College of Art, graduating with a Diploma in Design. He progressed to an M.A. in graphic design at the Royal College of Art from 1960 to 1962.
At the RCA he contributed to the college magazine, ARK and helped to establish its film department. For his final show, he made a black and white short film, Boy and Bicycle, starring his younger brother, Tony Scott, and his father. The film's main visual elements would become features of Scott's later work; it was issued on the 'Extras' section of The Duellists DVD. After graduation in 1963, he secured a job as a trainee set designer with the BBC, leading to work on the popular television police series Z-Cars and the science fiction series Out of the Unknown. Scott was an admirer of Stanley Kubrick early in his development as a director. For his entry to the BBC traineeship, Scott remade Paths of Glory as a short film.
He was assigned to design the second Doctor Who serial, The Daleks, which would have entailed realising the famous alien creatures. However, shortly before Scott was due to start work, a schedule conflict meant that he was replaced on the serial by Raymond Cusick.
At the BBC, Scott was placed into a director training programme and, before he left the corporation, had directed episodes of Z-Cars, its spin-off, Softly, Softly, and adventure series Adam Adamant Lives!
In 1968, Ridley and Tony Scott founded Ridley Scott Associates (RSA), a film and commercial production company.Five members of the Scott family are directors, all working for RSA. Brother Tony has been a successful film director for more than two decades; sons, Jake and Luke are both acclaimed commercials directors as is his daughter, Jordan Scott. Jake and Jordan both work from Los Angeles and Luke is based in London.
In 1995, Shepperton Studios was purchased by a consortium headed by Ridley and Tony Scott, which extensively renovated the studios while also expanding and improving its grounds.
Known For
Production Credits
Gladiator III
Blade Runner
Raised by Wolves
Taboo
The Pillars of the Earth
Pompeii: A Day of Fire
Welcome to the Punch
Out of the Furnace
Blade Runner 2099
AFP: American Fighter Pilot
The A-Team
Exodus: Gods and Kings
Earthquake Bird
Klondike
The Grey
Monkey Trouble
Alien
Great Expectations
Z-Cars
The Good Fight
Halo: Nightfall
Gladiator II
Alien: Romulus
The Duellists
Strange Angel
Echo Valley
Child 44
World Without End
The Last Debate
The Terror
Alien: Earth
Blade Runner 2049
Kingdom of Heaven
Equals
Get Santa
Before I Go to Sleep
The Martian
Jean-Claude Van Johnson
Thelma & Louise
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
A Haunting in Venice
FX's A Christmas Carol
1492: Conquest of Paradise
Robin Hood
House of Gucci
The Good Wife
Dope Thief
Here Be Monsters
Duelling Directors: Ridley Scott & Kevin Reynolds
Stoker
Death on the Nile
All the Money in the World
Into the Storm
Prime Target
Our Friend
Britain in a Day
Napoleon
Legend
Hannibal
Gladiator
The Last Duel
Alien: Covenant
Body of Lies
Prometheus
Boston Strangler
Black Hawk Down
Black Rain
The Last Vermeer
Cracks
Murder on the Orient Express
G.I. Jane
Still Missing Morgan
Merlin
The Man in the High Castle
American Gangster
The Passage
Kaleidoscope
Choose or Die
Originals for BBC
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