Richard France
Biography
Richard France is an American playwright, author, actor and critic known for his books and essays on Orson Welles's theater work. Born in Boston, he studied playwriting as a special fellow at the Yale School of Drama and later earned graduate degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University. His book The Theatre of Orson Welles received a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award in 1979. His plays include The Image of Elmo Doyle, Station J, which won a Silver PEN Award for Playwriting, and Obediently Yours, Orson Welles, staged in Paris in 2006. As an actor he appeared in George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968), The Crazies (1973) and Dawn of the Dead (1978), and from 1969 to 1973 he was a film and drama critic for the PBS affiliate WQED-TV. He was also a scholarly consultant and on-screen authority in the documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane (1996), which was nominated for an Academy Award.
88years old
Turns 89 on May 5in 175 days
- Born Boston
- Star sign: TaurusThe sign runs April 20 to May 20
Movie Career
- Films
- 6
- Career span
- 28 years1968 to 1996
Genres
- Horror67%, 4 films
- Sci-Fi50%, 3 films
- Action17%, 1 film
- Comedy17%, 1 film
- Documentary17%, 1 film
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First role
France's first screen appearance was an uncredited zombie in George A. Romero's original Night of the Living Dead in 1968, before he went on to play Dr. Watts in The Crazies and Dr. Millard Rausch in Dawn of the Dead.
A change of course
France left high school in 1955 in Kaiserslauten and went back to the United States, where he took odd jobs. At NBC Studios he worked in the mail room and was chosen for the NBC Radio Workshop, coached by the network's announcing staff.
Behind the camera
France wrote Obediently Yours, Orson Welles, which had its first performance at the Théâtre Marigny in Paris in 2006. A Spanish version started in Barcelone in 2008 and toured for over two years.
Behind the camera
France served as a scholarly consultant and appeared as the Welles authority in The Battle Over Citizen Kane, a 1996 documentary nominated for an Academy Award that later aired on PBS's The American Experience.
Richard France movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
George A. Romero directed four of these films. S. William Hinzman appears in three of them, more than any other actor. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
S. William Hinzman's page
George A. Romero's page
Lane Carroll's page
Judith Ridley's page
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.