Effigy of Richard I of England in the church of Fontevraud Abbey via Wikimedia Commons
King Richard I of England, frequently nicknamed “Richard the Lionheart,” ruled England from 1189-99. Only ten years! Nonetheless, he is famous for being a successful military leader, leading a crusade, being held captive, and (crucially) being the “good” king during the era in which most Robin Hood stories are set.
His parents were King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. As a younger son, he wasn’t expected to inherit the throne, but his elder brother William died before he was born and his next-elder brother Henry died at age 28 during a battle. Richard, along with his brothers, frequently rebelled against their father, and their mother Eleanor usually supported them. His reign was marked by anti-Semitism and Richard’s absence as he spent 1190-92 on crusade and then 1192-94 being held captive by first the Austrian king and then the Holy Roman Emperor. He married Berengaria of Navarre, who was famously the only English queen never to visit England. After returning from crusade/capture, he spent the few remaining years of his life focused on war with France, dying there after a wound turned gangrenous. Having no legitimate heirs, his younger brother John (the famously “evil” King John) succeeded him.
As per usual, there’s several screen performances as Richard that I can’t find images of:
- Walter Gibbs in Robin Hood (1913)
- S. J. Bingham in Robin Hood, Jr. (1923)
- David Markham in Robin Hood (1953)
- Patrick Barr in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955–59)
- Jon Cypher in Children’s Theater: “Robin Hood” (1964)
- Stephan Chase in The Talisman (1980)
- Robert Hardy in The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood (1984)
Otherwise, let’s do this!
Arthur Hollingsworth in Robin Hood (1912)
SO many Robin Hood stories. This is the first to feature King Richard!
Walter Craven in Ivanhoe (1913)
The first screen adaptation of the 19th-century Walter Scott novel, which romanticizes medieval England as a Saxon knight falls in love with a Jewish woman.
Wallace Beery in Robin Hood (1922)
Robin Hood #2, the silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks.
Wallace Beery in Richard the Lion-Hearted (1923)
A silent film biopic of the king.
Henry Wilcoxon in The Crusades (1935)
A Cecil B. DeMille film focused on Richard’s time crusading.
Ian Hunter in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Robin Hood #3, with Errol Flynn as Robin Hood and Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marian.
Patrick Barr in The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952)
Robin Hood #4, a feature film by Disney.
Norman Wooland in Ivanhoe (1952)
Another version of the romanticized take on medieval England. This was a feature film.
Patrick Holt in The Men of Sherwood Forest (1954)
Robin Hood #5, a Hammer film.
George Sanders in King Richard and the Crusaders (1954)
A feature film adaptation of a no-doubt-romanticized Walter Scott novel (The Talisman) about King Richard’s crusading activities.
Bruce Seton in Ivanhoe (1958)
Another version of the romanticized take on medieval England, this time as a British TV show.
Dermot Walsh in Richard the Lionheart (1962-63)
A British children’s TV series focused on the king.
Hamdy Geiss in Saladin aka Saladin the Victorious aka Al-Nasser Salah Ad-Din (1963)
An Egyptian feature film about the Third Crusade and Saladin, the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria who led the Muslim forces against the crusaders/crusader states.
Julian Glover in Doctor Who: “The Crusade” (1965)
“When the TARDIS lands in 12th-century Palestine, Barbara is captured by the Saracens. The Doctor, Ian, and Vicki, help assist in saving King Richard. Ian is eager to go after Barbara,” per Google’s summary.
Anthony Hopkins in The Lion in Winter (1968)
An adaptation of a stage play (hence the sparkling dialogue) about an older Eleanor of Aquitaine, who is released from captivity to visit her husband, Henry II, and her adult children.
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in The Legend of Robin Hood (1968)
Robin Hood #6. A TV musical.
Bernard Horsfall in Ivanhoe (1970)
Another version of the romanticized take on medieval England — another British TV series.
Frankie Howerd in Up the Chastity Belt (1971)
A British comedy film inspired by a TV series called Up Pompeii! (1969–1970), which was spun off into three feature films (Up Pompeii [1971] and Up the Front [1972]).
Lars Bloch in Long Live Robin Hood (1971)
Robin Hood #7. An Italian film.
Robin Hood (1973)
Robin Hood #8. The animated Disney film that y’all got very mad at me for omitting in my list of Robin Hood videos, so although I usually don’t include animated things, here you are. Peter Ustinov voiced Richard.
Michael J. Jackson in The Legend of Robin Hood (1975)
Robin Hood #9. A BBC miniseries.
Richard Harris in Robin and Marian (1976)
Robin Hood #10. Older Robin (Sean Connery) and Marian (Audrey Hepburn).
Lawrence Clark, Paul Rose, Glen Barlow, & Michael Byrne in The Devil’s Crown (1978)
A BBC TV series that dramatized “the reigns of three medieval Kings of England: Henry II and his sons Richard I and John,” per Wikipedia. The various actors played Richard at different ages.
Julian Glover in Ivanhoe (1982)
Another version of the romanticized take on medieval England. This time, a made-for-TV movie.
John Rhys-Davies in Robin of Sherwood: “The King’s Fool” (1984)
Robin Hood #11. A fantasy British TV series.
Neil Dickson in Lionheart (1987)
A feature film that is “Loosely based on the historical Children’s Crusade, the story follows … an exiled young knight, played by Eric Stoltz, who leads a band of orphans to join the Third Crusade with King Richard the Lionheart while protecting the children from the Black Prince,” per Wikipedia.
Forbes Collins in Maid Marian and her Merry Men: “The Whitish Knight” (1989)
Robin Hood #12. A British comedic TV series.
Sean Connery in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
Robin Hood #13. The feature film with Kevin Costner as Robin.
Aleksandr Baluev in Richard the Lion-Hearted (1992)
A Russian film adaptation of the Walter Scott novel The Talisman.
Patrick Stewart in Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
Robin Hood #14. The Mel Brooks comedy film.
Marek Vašut in Young Ivanhoe (1995)
Another version of the romanticized take on medieval England. A TV movie.
Rory Edwards in Ivanhoe (1997)
Another version of the romanticized take on medieval England. A BBC/A&E TV miniseries.
Andrew Howard in The Lion in Winter (2003)
Another adaptation of the Eleanor of Aquitaine/Henry II play.
Iain Glen in Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
A heavily fictionalized Ridley Scott film about the Third Crusade.
Steven Waddington in Robin Hood: “We Are Robin Hood!” (2007)
Robin Hood #15. Another British TV series.
Steven Waddington in Heroes and Villains: “Richard the Lionheart” (2008)
One episode of a BBC TV docudrama focused on Richard.
Mathew Baynton & Adam Riches Horrible Histories (2009-15)
A comedic children’s sketch TV show about historical figures.
Danny Huston in Robin Hood (2010)
Robin Hood #16. The feature film with Russel Crowe as Robin and Cate Blanchett as Marian.
Greg Maness in Richard The Lionheart (2013) & Richard the Lionheart: Rebellion (2015)
Two feature films that look super low budget.
Nice Peter in Epic Rap Battles of History (2021)
A YouTube web series featuring comedic rap battles between various historical figures.
Which is your favorite portrayal of King Richard I of England on screen?
Full credit to Mr Danny Huston for taking over from Mr Iain Glenn and being one of the Best Lionhearts to take the screen – not only is he far from a disappointment (despite our being promised Iain Glenn Lionheart in KINGDOM OF HEAVEN and not getting him in ROBIN HOOD), he absolutely nails what makes King Richard simultaneously an inspiration to his men and a danger to himself & others in properly Feudal style.
My only disappointment is that we never get to see him snarl at the other members of his family: while Dame Eileen Atkins lacks the undertone of Purest Scandal I associate with Eleanor of Aquitaine (I’d have loved to see what Dame Vanessa Redgrave or Jane Seymour could have done with the role) she, Mr Oscar Isaac and Mr Danny Huston are all excellent.
Patrick Barr also played Richard in two episodes of the Richard Greene Robin Hood series.
Peter Ustinov as the animated Richard is at war with Sean Connery in Prince of Thieves for me (Connery’s five minute performance is on the list of best cameos next to Dame Judi Dench as Queen Elizabeth), but there are SO many great performers in this list with varying qualities of properties. If pressed I’d go with Danny Huston and Anthony Hopkins.
Have seen a few of these, don’t remember them all. For all it’s faults and snark-worthy costumes, I love the ’82 Ivanhoe, and I always thought that Julian Glover fit the bill very well. He’s what I thought Richard should look like after reading all those Robin Hood stories as a kid. And how interesting that this wasn’t his first turn as Richard!
There’s line from ‘King Richard and the Crusaders’ – Lady Edith, says, “War, war! That’s all you ever think about, Dick Plantagenet! You burner, you pillager!”.
Oh, isn’t that a fabulous moment? Had to look up Lady E: Virginia Mayo. It’s a good Virginia Mayo line, but not as good as Loretta Young’s 1935 wig, which I covet. (“Frocks, frocks! That’s all you ever think about, Kendra and Sarah and Trystan! You historians, you costumers!”)
The 1958 Ivanhoe TV series featured a young Roger Moore (third from right) as Sir Wilfred!
From an historical perspective most of the photos are looking so funny with that fantasy armour. Helmets which are giving up to zero protection or/and are from a different period. All these leather garments with nails (?) or other “decorations” with no use. Richard obviously is too old in many films (maybe as it is the same with other monarchs in movies because king = old guy ?). Often I have the impression, that real chainmail is A too expensive (therefor even if chainmail is in use in movies the sleeves are too short) and B too heavy to wear in front of cameras. Naturaly the chainmail would not be too heavy if the armour woul fit better (most sleeves are just rediculous wide that from a 12th century point of view you could even put a second arm into the sleeve!). But I suppose that the equipment-guys want armour which fits everybody… Focussed on reflecting the character correctly Anthony Hopkins is the best Richard.
The most funny thing about this list, is that all these actors are perfectly anglo saxons despite the fact the Plantagenets were a french family, speaking french, and Richard writting poetry in french anglo normand.
Maybe an accurate representation of Richard, should have his speaking french or at least, have a french accent
As English didn’t become the official language of Britain until 1362, it would be a lot of plays and films that required English royalty to speak it instead of French, so it seems silly to single out Richard and make him have an accent! Henry V was the first to address Parliament in England, a few decades later, and the first to write in English.
They couldn’t be any more Anglo-Saxon than Edward Fox as Prince John, in a 1991 TV version (without a Lionheart)!
Surprisingly enough, Horrible Histories got that right. Or at least the OG series where Richard was played by Mathew Baynton had him speaking with a French accent, don’t know about the later series.
I’m enjoying that cross between a hennin and an ocean liner plopped on that lady’s head in ‘Up the Chastity Belt’!