Ridley Scott Biography, Net Worth, Brothers and Family Facts
A fascinating and interesting thing in the entertainment industry as a whole is the teamwork that takes place there. While we celebrate the artists we see on our screens for their outstanding achievements and artwork, there are some others like the producers, directors, and writers who work behind the scenes to get the best out of the artists we celebrate, and of course, they should be celebrated for that, to a certain extent they will be, but I think they deserve much more awards. Among those behind the scenes is an English director and producer Ridley Scott, whose big breakthrough came in 1979 with the science fiction horror movie Allen, which he directed. Read more about this film director below.
Ridley Scott Biography
The English film director and producer was born on November 30, 1937, in South Shields, County Durham, North East England, the son of Elizabeth and Colonel Francis Percy Scott. His love for the arts goes back to his childhood days, as he loved movies very much. His interest in science fiction began after reading the works of H. G. Wells. After Scott’s secondary education at Grangefield Grammar School, he went to West Hartlepool College of Art, where he received his diploma in design in 1958.
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Scott also studied at the Royal College of Art in London, where he wrote articles for the college magazine ARK and also helped set up a film department at the college. For his last show, he produced a black and white short film called Boy and Bicycle and starred in the film that would later be released in the Extras section of the DVD The Duellists.
After graduating from the Royal College of Art, Ridley Scott accepted a position as a trainee set designer with the BBC. This gave him the opportunity to work on a number of popular TV series of the time, including the popular TV police series Z-Cars and the science fiction series Out of the Unknown. Originally he was to design the second edition of “Doctor Who, The Daleks”, but shortly before Scott was able to resume work on the project, he was replaced by Raymond Cusick due to a scheduling conflict.
In 1965 he began directing several episodes of the BBC television series, including an episode of Adam Adamant Lives! and many years later, in 1977, he was commissioned to direct The Duellists. The film did well and was nominated for the main prize at the Cannes Film Festival, where he received an award for the best debut film. Ridley Scott was nominated for several other jobs, including directing the 1979 science fiction horror film Allen, which gave him visibility as a director.
His other notable works include Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, Black Hawk Down, Gladiator, which won the Academy Award for Best Film, The Martian, Matchstick Men, Robin Hood, Prometheus, American Gangster, All the Money in the World.
Scott’s outstanding work in the film industry has earned him several nominations, prizes, honors, and awards over the years. His films Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, and Thelma & Louise have earned him three Oscar nominations for directing. In 1995 he received the BAFTA for “Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema” together with his brother Tony. In 2003 he was knighted for his contributions to the British film industry.
According to a BBC survey in 2004, Ridley Scott was named the 10th most influential person in British culture. In 2015 he received an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art, and in 2018 Scott was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship for his life’s work.
Ridley Scott Net Worth
The English director and producer are reportedly worth $400 million, which comes from his more than four decades of career in the film industry and his companies.
Personal Life
Ridley Scott was married twice. His first marriage was to Felicity Heywood. Their union lasted eleven years (1964 – 1975) and produced two children – Jake and Luke. Two years after his divorce from Felicity, he married Sandy Watson, an advertising executive, and the couple had a daughter named Jordan Scott before going separate ways in 1989. Currently, he is not married but has a partner, Giannina Facio (actress from Porto Rico).
His Brothers and Family Facts
Scott is not the only son of Elizabeth and Colonel Francis Percy Scott. He had two brothers – an older brother named Frank and a younger one named Tony. Unfortunately, he is currently the only surviving child of his parents. Ridley and his brothers grew up in an army family. His father was an army officer who worked for the Royal Engineers. Due to the nature of his work, his father was absent during the formative years of his life.
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His older brother Frank joined the British Merchant Navy when Scott was still very young, so they hardly connected. Frank died of skin cancer in 1980 at the age of 45. During the Second World War, the family moved and lived in various places, including Cumberland, Northwest England, Germany, and even Wales. After the Second World War, they moved back to their home in the North East and eventually settled in Greens Beck Road in Hartburn, County Durham – a home that would later inspire several scenes in Blade Runner.
In 1968 he founded Ridley Scott Associates, a film and advertising production company, and invited his younger brother Tony to work with him. The two brothers worked with other directors such as Hugh Hudson and Alan Parker to expand the company. In 1995, Ridley and Tony Scott bought Shepperton Studios through a consortium led by them.
Tony died on August 19, 2012, at the age of 68 after jumping off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles, California. His daughter Jordan Scott currently works at RSA with her two brothers (Jake and Luke), who are renowned directors of commercials.
