His looks deceived you — twinkling eyes, roly-poly, smiling face — you took him for a favourite uncle, or a Santa Claus for all seasons. He could be all this — helpful, humble, giving — but Richard Attenborough was far, far more than he let on. He was an artiste and human being of great depth and perception, and I was fortunate to be witness to his genius and craft, and be a very small part of it. He always searched for that Bridge Too Far.

Tom Alter first met Richard Attenborough in the summer of 1977 in Calcutta. Pic/Getty Images

A man of his word
We first met in Uttam Kumar’s make-up room in Indrapuri Studios in Tollygunj. It was the hot and humid summer of 1977 and the great Bengali thespian’s make-up room was the only air-conditioned one in all of Tollygunj in those distant days. It was given with much grace to Satyajit Ray and Attenborough for their collective use and I — as a humble Weston to Dickie’s Outram — was allowed into those hallowed premises, and it is there where I not only met Attenborough for the first time, but rehearsed again and again our scenes together in The Chessplayers.