Lloyd Richards
| Lloyd Richards | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Lloyd George Richards June 29, 1919 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | June 29, 2006 (aged 87) New York City, New York |
| Occupation | Theatre director, actor |
| Years active | 1947–1999 |
| Spouse(s) | Barbara Davenport (1958-2006) |
| Children | Scott Davenport Richards Thomas Richards |
| Awards |
Tony Award Best Direction of a Play 1987 Fences Regional Theatre Tony Award 1991 Yale Repertory Theatre Drama Desk Outstanding New Play 1987 Fences 1990 The Piano Lesson National Medal of Arts 1993 Lifetime Achievement |
Lloyd George Richards (June 29, 1919 – June 29, 2006) was a Canadian-American theatre director, actor, and dean of the Yale School of Drama from 1979 to 1991, and Yale University professor emeritus.
Richards was born in Toronto, Ontario, but was raised in Detroit, Michigan. His father, a Jamaican carpenter turned auto-industry worker, died when Richards was nine years old. Soon after, his mother lost her eyesight, he and his brother Allan kept the family together. He later went on to study law at Wayne University where instead he found his way in theatrical arts after a brief break during World War II while serving in the U.S. Army Air Force.
Among Richards' accomplishments are his staging the original production of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, debuting on Broadway to standing ovations on 11 March 1959, and in 1984 he introduced August Wilson to Broadway in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
As head of the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, he helped develop the careers of Wendy Wasserstein, Christopher Durang, Lee Blessing and David Henry Hwang.
Richards died of heart failure on his eighty-seventh birthday in New York City.
Mr. Richards also taught Moscow Art Theatre acting technique under Paul Mann at the Actor's Workshop in New York alongside Morris Carnovsky.
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