Born Cecil Antonio Richardson at Shipley, Yorkshire, England, and a graduate of Oxford, where he had been an active member of the dramatic society. With George Devine he established the English Stage Company in 1955 at the Royal Court Theatre, London. Tony became engaged in films via Free Cinema and the Royal Court Theatre.

He rose from head of the university's dramatic society to the pinnacle of the British film industry during the early 1960s, scoring several theatrical successes as a director along the way, most notably Look Back In Anger, with whom Tony would enjoy a long professional relationship.

He was considered a successful iconoclast, challenging his audience and dazzling them as well with his creative camera work and inventiveness. Unfortunately, Tony's 1968 reworking of The Charge of the Light Brigade fell flat at the box office, and the commercial/artistic spell was broken.

In 1970 he planned to make a film about the dancer Nijinskij, with Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev and French actress Claude Jade, but it was never released.

Married at one time to actress Vanessa Redgrave, his film legacy continues through his daughters Natasha and Joely Richardson. Tony died of AIDS-related complications in Los Angeles, California. His biography was published posthumously, with the title The Long Distance Runner.