Photo Coverage: Remembering Marty Richards

Martin Richards headed the film and theatrical Production Company, The Producer Circle, which he founded with his late wife Mary Lea Johnson in 1976. Their first musical, On The Twentieth Century, directed by Harold Prince, which won five Tony Awards. Their next, Sweeney Todd, also directed by Mr. Prince, won eight Tony Awards including Best Musical. They co-produced the Pulitzer Prize winning Crimes Of The Heart, Foxfire, for which Jessica Tandy received the Best Actress Tony Award, Grand Hotel, directed and choreographed by Tommy Tune, which won five Tony Awards, and the hit Off Broadway musicals, March Of The Falsettos and Mayor.

Mr. Richards has also co-produced the Obie Award winning Dylan, which starred Rue McClanahan, Bob Fosse’s Chicago, which was nominated for eleven Tonys and won Best Musical in London and Los Angeles, The Norman Conquests, which received the Outer Critics Circle Award, La Cage aux Folles, which won six Tonys, including Best Musical, and The Will Rogers Follies, again with Tommy Tune directing and choreographing, which won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, The Best Of Friends, starring Diana Douglas, which he produced with Michael Douglas, Sally Marr ...and her escorts, which starred Joan Rivers, who received a Best Actress Tony Nomination, the Cy Coleman musical The Life, which received Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Awards for Best Musical, and Sweet Smell Of Success, directed by Nicholas Hytner, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, adapted from the film by John Guare, with music and lyrics by Marvin Hamlisch and Craig Carnelia. He most recently co-produced the Tony Award winning revival of La Cage aux Folles, which starred Gary Beach and Robert Goulet, and was directed by Jerry Zaks and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, and Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, starring the legendary Chita Rivera, with book by Terrance McNally, directed & choreographed by Graciela Daniele. Mr. Richards' stage productions have received thirty-six Tony Awards, The Pulitzer Prize, seven Outer Critic Circle Awards, and two New York Drama Critics Awards.

Mr. Richards' film productions include The Boys From Brazil, which was directed by Franklin Schaffner and starred Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, which starred Jack Nicholson, Fort Apache, The Bronx, which starred Paul Newman, and the musical Chicago, directed and choreographed by Rob Marshall, starring Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta Jones and Richard Gere, which received three Broadcast Critic's Choice Awards, including Best Picture, three Golden Globe Awards, including Best Picture, The Producers Guild of America Darryl F. Zanuck Award as Best Producer of 2002, the Directors Guild of America Award for Rob Marshall’s direction, and six Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 2002.

Mr. Richards was a member of The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and serves on the Board of Governors of the League of American Theaters and Producers. In 1997, Mayor Giuliani appointed him to a six-year term as a member of The Trust for Cultural Resources of the City of New York. He was also a member of the Mayor's Advisory Council for Theatre.

Mr. Richards served on the President's Council for the Gay Men's Health Crisis, and is on the Board of Directors of Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS. In 1994, in memory of his wife, he established the Mary Lea Johnson Richards Institute at New York University Medical Center for organ transplantation and research, and in 1995, also in memory of his wife, he co-founded the Children's Advocacy Center of Manhattan, New York City's only non-profit center for abused children. For the past eight years he has produced the annual Red Ball, one of New York's premiere charitable events, which benefits both the Institute and the Advocacy Center.

Mr. Richards most recently produced the new musical, Big Maybelle: Soul of the Blues starring Lillias White at The Bay Street Theatre this August.

Marty Richards Attending the Opening Night of the New Broadway Musical, WICKED ( The Untold Story of the Witches Of Oz ), at the Gershwin Theatre in New York City. April 10, 2003

Marty Richards Attending the Opening Night Performance of the Broadway Revival of NINE THE MUSICAL at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, New York City. April 10, 2003

Marty Richards Attending the Opening Night Performance of the Broadway Revival of NINE THE MUSICAL at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, New York City. April 10, 2003

Marty Richards Attending the Opening Night Performance of the Broadway Revival of NINE THE MUSICAL at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, New York City. April 10, 2003

Marty Richards Attending the Opening Night performance of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at the Minskoff Theatre in New York City. February 26, 2004

Marty Richards Attending the Opening Night performance of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at the Minskoff Theatre in New York City. February 26, 2004

Marty Richards and Tommy Tune Attending the Opening Night performance for LA CAGE aux FOLLES at the Marquis Theatre in New York City. December 9, 2004

Marty Richards attending the Opening Night performance of THE WEDDING SINGER at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in New York City. April 27th, 2006

Marty Richards attending the Opening Night Performance of TARZAN, The Broadway Musical at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York City. May 10, 2006