Short answers, pulled from the story.
Richard Lester is an American retired film director, born on the 19th of January 1932 in Philadelphia. He is best known for directing A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965) with the Beatles, and for his fast-paced, flamboyant style that the British Film Institute credited with capturing the popular image of Britain in the Swinging Sixties more vividly than any other director.
Richard Lester directed two Beatles films: A Hard Day's Night in 1964 and Help! in 1965. A Hard Day's Night was both a critical and commercial success and is credited as a forerunner of the modern music video, particularly its multi-angle filming of a live performance. Help! was conceived as a spoof of the James Bond spy genre.
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, released in November 2006, is a re-edited version of Superman II using footage shot by original director Richard Donner, who had filmed approximately 75 percent of the sequel before being replaced by Lester. Lester completed the film and received the director's credit; Donner's cut uses Lester's footage only for scenes Donner had not filmed.
Lester retired from directing after completing The Return of the Musketeers in 1989, following the death of actor Roy Kinnear, a close friend, who died during filming in Spain after falling from a horse. He directed only one more project after that, Paul McCartney's concert film Get Back in 1991.
MTV sent Richard Lester an award designating him "Father of the Music Video." The honour recognised stylistic innovations in A Hard Day's Night (1964), particularly its multi-angle filming of a live Beatles performance, which became a forerunner of the music video format.
The British Film Institute awarded Richard Lester a Fellowship in 2012, the British film industry's highest honour. The ceremony took place on the 22nd of March at the National Film Theatre and was followed by a screening of his 1976 film Robin and Marian.