Don Richardson(1918-1996)

Don Richardson was a director and teacher of actors for over fifty years. His credits include three Broadway productions and numerous prime-time television shows, among them winners of the Emmy and Peabody awards. His work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Broadcasting and the Jewish Museum in New York. In California he is represented in the UCLA film and television archives. He taught actors at Barnard College, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and California, and Tel Aviv University in Israel, and had a workshop of his own. During his retirement from television he taught actors and directors at UCLA Arts Extension four semesters per year until his death. His classes sold out weeks in advance. Among some of his former students were Anne Bancroft, Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Montgomery, Lois Nettleton, John Cassavetes, Zero Mostel, Don Adams and a host of others. Helen Hayes, the First Lady of the American Theatre forwarded his 1988 book on acting, Acting Without Agony, an Alternative to the Method, published by Allyn and Bacon, Inc.