Kingsley tapped his head -''that when the time comes will govern how you place yourself and use your body. You can do is just look at them and hope something goes in'' - Mr. He prepared for the role ''methodically and scientifically,'' he said, reading biographies, screening newsreel footage and poring over ''every photograph I could get my hands on.'' He continued: ''All Sort of lands between your shoulder blades and bends you.'' ''It's an awesome responsibility, and the weight of it ''My reaction was similar to my reaction when I got the part of Hamlet,'' said Mr. a combination that was constantly apparent.''īut the prospect of actually recreating Gandhi on film was daunting. He was an utterly remarkable man, in his intellect, his energy and his integrity Gandhi was one of my source figures: a prototype human being. Kind of documentary evidence feeds me as an actor, and I have always collected them.
''Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech, for example, and old newsreel films of Gandhi. ''There are certain historical figures and moments that I have personally always found overwhelming,'' said Mr. Kingsley learned that his own family had even come from the same village as the Indian leader. When he began to research the life of Gandhi, Mr.
Kingsley calls ''a thoroughly English upbringing'' in Manchester, he was born Krishna Bhanji (he changed his name as a young man beginning his theatrical career) and bears a striking physical resemblance to Gandhi. Kingsley's father lived until going to England at the age of 14.ĭespite what Mr. Kingsley's family has not lived in India for three generations: his paternal grandfather, a spice trader, left India Kingsley is half Indian: his mother was an English model and his father, a physician, was Indian. Kingsley, his choice seemed eerily appropriate. Attenborough's search for the perfect Gandhi was long and frustrating, but when he finally found Mr. Kingsley who provides the magnetic center. Hattangadhi as Gandhi's wife, among scores of others.īut it is Mr. The cast also includes Sir John Gielgud, Candice Bergen, Martin Sheen, Athol Fugard, Trevor Howard, John Mills and the Indian stage actress Rohini
In the birth of modern India, to his assassination in 1948 at the age of 79. An immense 3-hour 20-minute epic biography, the film traces the life of Gandhi from his arrival in South Africa as a young lawyer in 1893, through his crucial role Which opened last week at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York. Kingsley has been acclaimed in Britain for roles ranging from Hamlet to the title part in Brecht's ''Baal,'' the 38-year-old actor is little known in the United States. ''There was no question he was the one.''Īlthough Mr. Attenborough, who produced and directed the film. ''And from the moment Ben came on the screen, he was absolutely mesmeric,'' reported Mr. Kingsley be interested and available for a screen test? Attenborough had also been searching for the right actor to play Gandhi, with little success. Kingsley received a call from Sir Richard Attenborough, the actor and director, who had been trying for almost 20 years to start a movie about Gandhi. Six days later, deeply immersed in the life of the Indian leader Mohandas K. ''So my wife started putting books in front of me in order to relax me and ease my blasted mind. ''It was killingly hard work and burned up a lot of an actor's brain cells,'' Mr. Squeers in the original London production of ''Nicholas Nickleby.'' Two years ago, Ben Kingsley, an actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company, was playing Mr. Ben Kingsley’s Journey From Hamlet to Gandhi