Lloyd Richards
Lloyd George Richards (born June 29, 1919 in Toronto , Ontario , † June 29, 2006 in New York City , New York ) was an American actor and theater director .
Life
Lloyd Richards, the son of Jamaican immigrants who worked for a long time in a hair salon, became famous in 1959 when he became the first black director to direct a play by the unknown black playwright Lorraine Hansberry on Broadway . The play A Raisin in the Sun , which is about the life of the black working class Younger family and premiered on March 11, 1959, was a great success despite negative predictions. The production was staged 530 times and is now considered a milestone in American theater and social history. In 1979, he staged a director one episode of the series: Roots - The Next Generations (Roots: The Next Generations) .
Richards also brought August Wilson to Broadway in 1984 with Ma Rainey's Black Bottom . He also supported Wendy Wasserstein , Christopher Durang , Lee Blessing and David Henry Hwang .
Lloyd Richards died of heart failure on June 29, 2006, his 87th birthday.
Awards
- 1987: Tony Award for Best Director for Fences
- 1986. Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 1993: National Medal of Arts
- 2002: Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize
Web links
- Lloyd Richards at the Academy of Achievement (English)
- Lloyd Richards at the Internet Broadway Database (English)
- Lloyd Richards at theInternet Movie Database(English)
- Lloyd Richards, Theater Director and Cultivator of Playwrights, Is Dead at 87 , New York Times , July 1, 2006
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Richards, Lloyd |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Richards, Lloyd George (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American actor and theater director |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 29, 1919 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Toronto , Ontario , Canada |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 29, 2006 |
| Place of death | New York City , New York , United States |