Kenneth Richmond

Richmond was born in London and grew up near Pinewood Studios.^[2]

At 6'5" and 265 lbs, he competed for Great Britain at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, finishing fifth in the Greco-Roman light heavyweight category.^[2] He represented the English team^[3] at the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland, New Zealand,^[4] where he won the bronze medal in the heavyweight category.^[5]

He won a bronze medal at the 1952 Olympics^[2] and represented the English team at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games held in Vancouver, Canada,^[6] where he won the gold medal in the heavyweight category.^[7]

He appeared at two more Olympic Games in 1956 and 1960 respectively^[2] and represented the England team at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff.^[8]

Rixhmond was an eleven-times winner of the British Wrestling Championships at light-heavyweight in 1950 and at super heavyweight in 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959 and 1960.^[9]

He stayed fit enough into his later years to win medals for rollerblading and windsurfing in his 60s.^{[citation needed]}

Though he appeared as the wrestler Nikolas in Jules Dassin's film noir, Night and the City (1950),^[10] Richmond was perhaps most recognisable as the shirtless gongman banging the enormous gong preceding the opening credits for films produced or distributed by the Rank Organisation. He was the fourth – and last – actor to take the job. According to the BBC, he had revealed to friends that the gong seen in the Rank Organisation's opening never rang, as it was a papier-mâché stage prop and he never actually struck it with any force, joking "If you hit that gong, you would have gone straight through."^[11]

He was a Jehovah's Witness from late 1960s.. He was jailed as a conscientious objector during World War II. In later life, he was a volunteer minister for the organisation.^[11] He died at age 80 in his home in Christchurch.^[12] (Richmond's wife, Valentina, died in 1996).^{[citation needed]}