Attenborough's first film role was in Noel Coward and David Lean's acclaimed WWII drama, "In Which We Serve" (1942), about the men of a British destroyer sunk during the Battle of Crete.

Richard Attenborough in Noel Coward and David Lean's "In Which We Serve" (1942).

Richard Attenborough was a sensation as the psychopathic criminal "Pinkie Brown" in the stage version of Graham Greene's "Brighton Rock." He repeated the role in the 1947 film version (left), directed by John Boulting.

Richard Attenborough in "Jet Storm" (1959), a thriller about airborne terrorism.

In the white-knuckle 1963 wartime drama, "The Great Escape," Richard Attenborough played "Big X," one of a rush of Allied prisoners digging their way out of a German POW camp. Also starring were Charles Bronson (left), Steve McQueen, James Garner and Donald Pleasance.

In Bryan Forbes' "Seance on a Wet Afternoon" (1964), Richard Attenborough played the husband of a would-be psychic (Kim Stanley) who engages in child kidnapping to help prove his wife's ability to "find" the missing girl.

A plane's passengers and crew, stranded in the Sahara Desert, struggle to rebuild their craft as their only means of escape in the 1965 drama, "The Flight of the Phoenix." Starring with Richard Attenborough were James Stewart, Hardy Kruger, Peter FInch, Ernest Borgnine and George Kennedy.

Richard Attenborough re-teamed with his "Great Escape" costar Steve McQueen in the 1966 period drama, "The Sand Pebbles," set in the 1920s on a U.S. gunboat in China caught in rising tensions between East and West.

Richard Attenborough's first film as a director was the 1969 adaptation of Joan Littlewood's anti-war stage musical, "OH! What a Lovely War." The film's all-star cast included John Mills, Dirk Bogarde, John Gielgud, Kenneth More, Jean Pierre Cassal, Jack Hawkins, Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Ralph Richardson, and Michael and Vanessa Redgrave.

In "Ten Rillington Place" (1971), based on a true story, Richard Attenborough starred as the serial killer John Christie.

Richard Attenborough's second film as a director was the 1972 drama "Young Winston," starring Simon Ward as the young Winston Churchill.

Richard Attenborough was one member of an all-star cast about to drop like flies in the 1974 film version of Agatha Christie's murder mystery, "And Then There Were None."

Operation Market Garden - the Allied assault on a series of Nazi-held bridges in the Netherlands - was recreated in the 1977 WWII epic, "A Bridge Too Far," directed by Richard Attenborough.

Richard Attenborough directed the 1978 thriller "Magic," starring Anthony Hopkins as an unstable ventriloquist who tries to rekindle romance with an old flame (Ann Margret), while using his dummy as an instrument of death. Written by William Goldman.

Richard Attenborough's biographical epic "Gandhi" (1982) starred Ben Kingsley in the sweeping story of the activist's life, from his early years as a lawyer in South Africa, to leading India's independence movement against the British Crown.

"Gandhi" won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Attenborough, and Best Actor of Ben Kingsley.

Director Richard Attenborough and actor Michael Douglas are pictured on the set of the 1985 film, "A Chorus Line."

Denzel Washington earned an Oscar nomination for his performance as anti-Apartheid activist Steve Biko in Richard Attenborough's 1987 film, "Cry Freedom."

Richard Attenborough directed the affecting drama "Shadowlands" (1993), about the romance of British novelist C.S. Lewis (Anthony Hopkins) and American poet Joy Davidman (Debra Winger).

Richard Attenborough directed Robert Downey Jr. to an Oscar nomination for his performance in the 1992 biopic, 'Chaplin."

Director Richard Attenborough on the set of "Chaplin," with Robert Downey Jr.

Richard Attenborough played Kris Kringle in the 1994 remake of the Christmas classic, "Miracle on 34th Street."

Richard Attenborough played an exuberant theme park owner who, through the scientific magic of "dino DNA," created a futuristic playground housing all manner of reconstituted dinosaurs, in the Steven Spielberg hit, "Jurassic Park" (1993).

Richard Attenborough directed Chris O'Donnell and Sandra Bullock in the 1996 film version of Ernest Hemingway's romantic drama set during World War I, "In Love and War."

Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth and Richard Attenborough as William Cecil in the 1998 historical drama, "Elizabeth," directed by Shekhar Kapur.

Shirley MacLaine starred in Richard Attenborough's last film as a director, "Closing the Ring" (2007), a period drama set in both WWII and in an Ireland beset by revolutionary terrorism.

Director Richard Attenborough is pictured on the set of "Closing the Ring with star Mischa Barton.

Actor-director Richard Attenborough died on Sunday, August 24, 2014.

By CBS News.com senior producer David Morgan