Richard Attenborough attempting to get the project made for 18 years. He directed the screen version of the musical "A Chorus Line" (1985) and the anti-apartheid drama "Cry Freedom" (1987). He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director for both films. His later films as director and producer include "Chaplin" (1992) starring Robert Downey Jr., as Charlie Chaplin and "Shadowlands" (1993), based on the relationship between C. S. Lewis and Joy Gresham (the star of the latter was Anthony Hopkins, who had appeared in four previous films for Attenborough: "Young Winston", "A Bridge Too Far", "Magic" and "Chaplin"). Between
Richard Attenborough 30 July 1993 he was created a life peer as Baron Attenborough, of Richmond upon Thames in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Although the appointment by John Major was 'non-political' (it was granted for services to the cinema) and he could have been a crossbencher, Attenborough chose to take the Labour whip and so sat on the Labour benches. In 1992 he had been offered a peerage by Neil Kinnock, then leader of the Labour Party, but refused it as he felt unable to commit himself to the time necessary "to do what was required of him in