Many People Don’t Realize David and Richard Attenborough Are Related
"We just spent all our time roaring with laughter," David said.
Updated May 8 2026, 4:28 p.m. ET
People are curious whether the late actor Lord Richard Attenborough is related to broadcaster David Attenborough amid the naturalist's 100th birthday on May 8, 2026.
The famous wildlife expert has made numerous documentaries about nature, including Life of Birds, Deep Blue, and A Life on Our Planet, per IMDb.
Lord Richard Attenborough also entertained audiences for decades as an actor and filmmaker, and he earned two Academy Awards in the process — one for producing the 1983 film Gandhi, and another for directing the film.
He was also a celebrated stage actor who starred in multiple hit films, including The Great Escape and Jurassic Park, just to name a few.
The two British natives have both captivated audiences in similar fashions, but are they related?
Are David and Richard Attenborough related?
Yes, Sir David Attenborough and Lord Richard Attenborough are related; in fact, the two men are siblings. According to Hello! Magazine, the brothers grew up in Cambridge, England, with parents who were academics and social activists.
Lord Richard's career began on the London stage, and in 1937, he starred as Lucius in Julius Caesar.
He went on to star in multiple movies in the UK and in Hollywood, including the 1998 film Elizabeth, the 1996 Steve McQueen film The Sand Pebbles, and the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street. He also directed the critically acclaimed hit films Cry Freedom, A Chorus Line, and Chaplin.
His acceptance speech at the Academy Awards was filled with eloquence as he honored humanity.
"Gandhi simply asked that we should examine the criteria by which we adjudge the manner of solving our problems," Richard said. "That surely in the 20th century, we human beings searching for our human dignity could find other ways of ultimately solving our problems than blowing the other man's head off."
David once said of his brother's famous film roles, most of which are centered on heavy drama, that he wished he'd done more comedy films because he was so funny.
"The thing that I'm sorry about is that actually Dick was a marvellous comic actor," said David. "He was very, very funny, and could be – and was – in domestic circumstances. We just spent all our time roaring with laughter – and that didn't get much of an outlet in his feature films. I mean, Christmas time, you know, we just sat around, roaring with laughter."
David Attenborough is famous in his own right.
The naturalist began collecting fossils as a child before going to college at Cambridge to study zoology. He went on to work as a manager at the BBC before becoming a broadcaster, and his career wth the network has lasted more than 70 years.
David endeared audiences when he cuddled with gorillas in the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda back in 1978, and he's also visited the tortoises in the Galapagos Islands.
Richard died in 2014 at the age of 90, so it seems that longevity, as well as creativity, runs strong in the Attenborough family.