David Attenborough

Award won Role or nomination

1. 1926 age 0

   Born

2. 1985 age 59

   CreditA Zed & Two Noughts

3. 1996 age 70

   CreditBreak the Science Barrier

4. 2007 age 81

   CreditThe 11th Hour

5. 2016 age 90

   CreditPlanet Earth IIproducer

6. 2020 age 94

   CreditDavid Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet

7. 2021 age 95

   CreditThe Year Earth Changed

• AFAlastair Fothergill3 titles
• HZHans Zimmer1 title
• ASAlan Silvestri1 title
• LDLeonardo DiCaprio1 title
• ASArnold Schwarzenegger1 title
• WKWolf Kahler1 title
• SPSteven Price1 title
• GFGeorge Fenton1 title
• SHStephen Hawking1 title
• GPGeoffrey Palmer1 title

• Siblings

  • RARichard Attenborough

Nothing recorded for: Spouse, Partner, Parents, Children, Influenced by, Studied under, Taught.

• 
  Photo:https://www.flickr.com/photos/ukgov/OGL 3OGL 3
• 
  via TheTVDB

• I don't know [why we're here]. People sometimes say to me, "Why don't you admit that the hummingbird, the butterfly, and the Bird-of-Paradise are proof of the wonderful things produced by Creation?" And I always say, "Well, when you say that, you've also got to think of a little boy sitting on a riverbank, like here, in West Africa, that's got a little worm, a living organism, that's in its eye and boring through its eyeballs and is slowly turning it blind. The creator God that you believe in, presumably, also made that little worm." Now I personally find that difficult to accommodate and so therefore [sic] when I make these films, I prefer to show what I know to be the facts, what I know to be true, and then people can deduce what they will from that.

  David Attenborough, CC BY-SA 4.0

• I often get letters, quite frequently, from people who say how they like the programmes a lot, but I never give credit to the almighty power that created nature. To which I reply and say, "Well, it's funny that the people, when they say that this is evidence of the Almighty, always quote beautiful things. They always quote orchids and hummingbirds and butterflies and roses." But I always have to think too of a little boy sitting on the banks of a river in west Africa who has a worm boring through his eyeball, turning him blind before he's five years old. And I reply and say, "Well, presumably the God you speak about created the worm as well," and now, I find that baffling to credit a merciful God with that action. And therefore it seems to me safer to show things that I know to be truth, truthful and factual, and allow people to make up their own minds about the moralities of this thing, or indeed the theology of this thing.

  David Attenborough, CC BY-SA 4.0

• If we [humans] disappeared overnight, the world would probably be better off [making the point that the reverse is not true].

  David Attenborough, CC BY-SA 4.0

• People who accuse us of putting in too much violence, [should see] what we leave on the cutting-room floor. My conscience troubles me more about reducing the pain and savagery that there is in the natural world than the reverse.

  David Attenborough, CC BY-SA 4.0

• In moments of great grief, that's where you look and immerse yourself. You realise you are not immortal, you are not a god, you are part of the natural world and you come to accept that.

  David Attenborough, CC BY-SA 4.0

• I don't think any human society is prepared to make decisions which they may not like if they're made by people who don't speak the same language... It's very easy, as we all know, to be very tolerant of minorities until they become majorities and you find yourself a minority. It's easy to say 'Oh yes, these lovely people – I love the way they wear such interesting costumes.' You know, that's fine until some day you find that they're actually telling you what to do and that they've actually taken over the town council and what you thought was your home was not. I'm not supporting it; I'm saying it's what it is.

  David Attenborough, CC BY-SA 4.0