# Richard Gregson
**Richard Gregson** (Richard [John Gregson](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-gregson); May 5, 1930 – August 21, 2019) was a British talent agent, film producer, and screenwriter who worked between London and Hollywood, co-wrote the story for the Oscar-nominated *The Angry Silence* (1960), and produced [Robert Redford](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-redford)'s *Downhill Racer* (1969). He was also the second husband of the American actress [Natalie Wood](https://www.edgepedia.org/natalie-wood) and the father of the actress Natasha Gregson Wagner.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | May 5, 1930, Poona, British India (now Pune, Maharashtra, India); August 21, 2019, Whitebrook, Monmouthshire, Wales, of Parkinson's disease[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339995/bio/) |
| Oscar nomination | Best Original Screenplay at the 33rd Academy Awards for *The Angry Silence*, shared with his elder brother Michael Craig and Bryan Forbes[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339995/) |
| Academy credit | The Academy's awards database lists the film as story by Richard Gregson and Michael Craig, screenplay by Bryan Forbes[3](https://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/Search/GetResults?query=%7B%22AwardCategory%22%253A%5B%2225%22%5D%252C%22Sort%22%253A%223-Award+Category-Chron%22%252C%22Search%22%253A%22Basic%22%7D) |
| Signature production | *Downhill Racer* (1969), the first film from Wildwood International, Ltd., a company in which he was Redford's partner[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23973) |
| Marriage to Natalie Wood | Married May 30, 1969; divorced April 12, 1972; one daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner, born 1970[5](https://www.imdb.com/fr/name/nm0339995/bio/) |
| Television work | Creator and writer of the series *The Foundation* (1977–1978, 26 episodes) and writer of the TV movie *Jennifer: A Woman's Story* (1979)[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339995/) |
| Memoir | *Behind the Screen Door: Tales from the Hollywood Hills*, published 2012[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339995/) |
## Early career as an agent
Gregson spent more than 20 years as one of the prominent film personalities in Hollywood and London, working first as a talent agent. His clients included the actor Robert Redford, the director [John Schlesinger](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-schlesinger), the actors [Alan Bates](https://www.edgepedia.org/alan-bates) and [Julie Christie](https://www.edgepedia.org/julie-christie), the writer Frederic Raphael, and the producer Jo Janni[6](https://mrschristine.com/books/behind-the-screen-door-richard-gregson). A 1968 letter to Schlesinger concerning percentage profit shares was sent from Gregson at the British talent agency London International Artists, indicating his role there[7](https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/download/GB%201456%20SCHLESINGER). In his own account, he was "struggling up the ladder working as an agent for actors, writers and directors" when he met Natalie Wood[8](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jun/02/natalie-wood-drowning-richard-gregson).
His memoir describes how he came to be Redford's agent even though he had never previously represented an actor, and recounts meetings with figures such as [Frank Sinatra](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-sinatra)[9](https://truefilmclassics.com/2012/10/12/review-behind-the-screen-door-tales-from-the-hollywood-hills-2012/).
## The Angry Silence
**The Oscar-nominated screenplay.** *The Angry Silence* (1960), directed by Guy Green and starring [Richard Attenborough](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-attenborough), tells of a factory worker who refuses to join a wildcat strike and is ostracized by his workmates. The Academy credits the story to Richard Gregson and Michael Craig, with the screenplay by [Bryan Forbes](https://www.edgepedia.org/bryan-forbes)[3](https://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/Search/GetResults?query=%7B%22AwardCategory%22%253A%5B%2225%22%5D%252C%22Sort%22%253A%223-Award+Category-Chron%22%252C%22Search%22%253A%22Basic%22%7D). Michael Craig was Gregson's elder brother; Gregson is Craig's real surname[10](https://oldyorkeronline.com/the-angry-silence/). The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Writing, Story and [Screenplay](https://www.edgepedia.org/screenplay), received four BAFTA nominations, and won the BAFTA for Best British Screenplay in 1961[11](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218133/the-angry-silence). It was the first production of Beaver Films, the company of Attenborough and Forbes[12](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-angry-silence-1960-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson).
## Downhill Racer and Wildwood
Gregson's single credited feature as producer was *Downhill Racer* (1969), Michael Ritchie's debut film about an ambitious American ski racer, written by [James Salter](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-salter) from Oakley Hall's novel *The Downhill Racers* and starring Robert Redford and [Gene Hackman](https://www.edgepedia.org/gene-hackman)[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23973). According to the AFI Catalog, Redford revived the stalled Paramount project by taking his case directly to Gulf + Western owner [Charles Bluhdorn](https://www.edgepedia.org/charles-bluhdorn), who gave Redford $1 million to make the film. Redford and producer Richard Gregson, his partner in Wildwood International, Ltd., enlisted the television director Michael Ritchie to direct[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23973). The Criterion Collection essay on the film notes that Redford handpicked Gregson, then the husband of his friend and two-time costar Natalie Wood, as producer[13](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1297-downhill-racer-trailblazer).
The film's production was followed by litigation: in December 1969, writers Buck Holland and Jan Schimmel sued Paramount, Wildwood International, Redford, Salter, and Gregson for $6 million, claiming their story "Devil on His Heels" had been copied[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23973).
Gregson also produced a musical on Broadway, *Cyrano*, starring [Christopher Plummer](https://www.edgepedia.org/christopher-plummer)[6](https://mrschristine.com/books/behind-the-screen-door-richard-gregson).
## Marriage to Natalie Wood
Gregson married the American actress Natalie Wood in 1969; IMDb's biographical record gives the date as May 30, 1969, and the divorce as April 12, 1972[5](https://www.imdb.com/fr/name/nm0339995/bio/). In his own memoir account, published in *The Guardian*, he wrote that he married Wood in the spring of 1969 after they had been together, on and off, for three years, and that they divorced "not much more than a year later," attributing the on-off periods mostly to her living in Los Angeles while he lived in London[8](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jun/02/natalie-wood-drowning-richard-gregson). Their daughter, the actress [Natasha Gregson Wagner](https://www.edgepedia.org/natasha-gregson-wagner), was born in 1970[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339995/).
After Wood drowned off Santa Catalina Island in November 1981, Gregson, then living in London, flew to California; he later wrote about the decision over who should care for their daughter Natasha, who from the age of two was essentially raised by Wood's former husband Robert Wagner[8](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jun/02/natalie-wood-drowning-richard-gregson) • [14](https://time.com/5832394/natalie-wood-what-remains-behind-review/).
In 1984 Gregson married the British author Julia Gregson, and the marriage lasted until his death; IMDb records one child from this marriage[5](https://www.imdb.com/fr/name/nm0339995/bio/). An Evening Standard profile of Julia Gregson states that he had three elder children by a first wife in addition to his daughter Natasha[15](https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/queen-of-the-beach-6853635.html).
## Later work and memoir
Gregson's later screen work was in television. He created and wrote the series *The Foundation*, which ran for 26 episodes from 1977 to 1978, and wrote the television movie *Jennifer: A Woman's Story* (1979)[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339995/).
In 2012 he published a memoir, *Behind the Screen Door: Tales from the Hollywood Hills*, a series of short chapters recounting his years as a top Hollywood agent and how deals were cut and movies made in his era[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339995/) • [6](https://mrschristine.com/books/behind-the-screen-door-richard-gregson). An extract in *The Guardian* recounts the night in 1981 when he learned of Wood's drowning by telephone from his son in London[8](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jun/02/natalie-wood-drowning-richard-gregson).
The British Film Institute's roll call of filmmakers lost in 2019 described Gregson as "a talent agent, including for then-wife Natalie Wood, John Schlesinger and Alan Bates, who was also a producer (*Downhill Racer*) and screenwriter (*The Angry Silence*)"[16](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/news/departed-filmmakers-we-lost-2019).
## References
1. [Richard Gregson – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339995/bio/)
2. [Richard Gregson, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339995/)
3. [Academy Awards Search: Writing (Story and Screenplay), Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences](https://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/Search/GetResults?query=%7B%22AwardCategory%22%253A%5B%2225%22%5D%252C%22Sort%22%253A%223-Award+Category-Chron%22%252C%22Search%22%253A%22Basic%22%7D)
4. [Downhill Racer (1969), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23973)
5. [Richard Gregson – Biographie, IMDb (French)](https://www.imdb.com/fr/name/nm0339995/bio/)
6. [Behind the Screen Door, book page, mrschristine.com](https://mrschristine.com/books/behind-the-screen-door-richard-gregson)
7. [John Schlesinger papers, The National Archives (UK)](https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/download/GB%201456%20SCHLESINGER)
8. [Richard Gregson, "'Natalie's dead, Dad ...'", The Guardian (2012)](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jun/02/natalie-wood-drowning-richard-gregson)
9. [Review of Behind the Screen Door, True Classics](https://truefilmclassics.com/2012/10/12/review-behind-the-screen-door-tales-from-the-hollywood-hills-2012/)
10. [The Angry Silence, Old Yorker review](https://oldyorkeronline.com/the-angry-silence/)
11. [The Angry Silence, Turner Classic Movies article](https://www.tcm.com/articles/218133/the-angry-silence)
12. [The Angry Silence (1960) review, Eye for Film](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-angry-silence-1960-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson)
13. [Downhill Racer: Trailblazer, The Criterion Collection](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1297-downhill-racer-trailblazer)
14. [Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind review, TIME](https://time.com/5832394/natalie-wood-what-remains-behind-review/)
15. [Queen of the beach, London Evening Standard](https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/queen-of-the-beach-6853635.html)
16. [The departed: the filmmakers we lost in 2019, Sight and Sound, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/news/departed-filmmakers-we-lost-2019)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Directors, producers, and screenwriters › Film producers › European and other international producers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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