R.I.P. Marty Richards

[Reza]

Marty Richards, Tony-Winning Broadway and Film Producer, Dies at 80

By Robert Simonson
November 26, 2012 playbill.com

Marty Richards, a stage and film producer who was among the backers
of the Academy Award-winning 2002 film of the musical Chicago, and
whose Broadway credits included Sweeney Todd, Crimes of the Heart and
La Cage aux Folles, died Nov. 26. He was 80.

A flamboyant and effusive man who relished the good life, and had the
money to bankroll it, Marty Richards was known as a great talker, a
font of showbiz stories, and a thrower of opulent parties (Cy Coleman
would perform alongside Neil Sedaka). He was also an open admirer of
talent, his fascination with artists he respected never dimming.
"I've always been terribly intimidated by Stephen Sondheim's genius,
and I was afraid to approach him," he once said. "But he's the least
stubborn composer. If you need another song, he just goes home and
writes one and brings it back the next day."

As a producer, he could be tenacious. The Oscar for Chicago was
hard-won. Mr. Richards began his quest to convert the Bob
Fosse-directed Kander and Ebb musical, about a couple of merry
Chicago murderesses who love the spotlight, into a film shortly after
the show premiered on Broadway in 1975. Miramax optioned the movie
rights to Chicago from Richards in 1991. Ten years later, the film
was finally made. Mr. Richards was ever-present, arriving early in
the morning every day of the shoot and leaving last, and fighting
with the creators when he felt they were diverting from Fosse's
original vision.

He was born Morton Richard Klein, the son of Sid Klein, a
stockbroker, and Shirly Klein, a housewife, in The Bronx. His
parents, noticing their son's fine voice, enrolled him in the Marie
Moses School of Dance and Singing. His classmates included Donna Reed
and Rita Moreno. When he was 10, he was cast in the 1944 musical
comedy Mexican Hayride. His voice changed at age 13, however, and the
opportunities dried up. Still, he persevered, singing in nightclubs
under the name Martin Richards, while he studied architecture at NYU.

He soon quit school to pursue performing full-time, getting small
parts in television shows and movies. In the early '60s, he made a
career shift, becoming a casting director, working for Fox and
Paramount, casting bit players in films shot in Manhattan.

He struck out on his own as a producer in 1972, raising the money for
an Off-Broadway show called Dylan. The play won an Obie Award. The
producers Robert Fryer and James Cresson were impressed and invited
him to help out on Chicago. Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon didn't
particularly like the over-eager newcomer. But when the show was
delayed by Fosse's heart attack, and Mr. Richards kept the cast
together by finding them temporary jobs, Fosse was appreciative. A
friendship was born.

Around this time, Mr. Richards met Band-Aid heiress Mary Lea Johnson,
daughter of Seward Johnson of the Johnson & Johnson empire. Johnson
and her then husband, Victor D'Arc, were interested in investing in
theatre and movie projects, and turned to Mr. Richards for help.
Together, Johnson and Mr. Richards founded Producer Circle Co. in
1976. When Johnson divorced D'Arc, she stayed with Mr. Richards.
Though she knew he was gay, they married in 1978, eventually living
in separate apartments in the same building. The union, by all
accounts a happy one, afforded him a luxurious lifestyle. As a
wedding gift, she gave him a Southampton estate on the beach with a
swimming pool and a tennis court. Johnson died in 1990.

The first hit show that Mr. Richards and Johnson co-produced was On
the Twentieth Century. Mr. Richards subsequently won Tony Awards for
The Norman Conquests, Sweeney Todd, La Cage aux Folles, The Will
Rogers Follies, The Life and the 2005 Broadway revival of La Cage aux
Folles. Less successful were A Doll's Life, Rockabye Hamlet, Grind,
Mayor, Goodbye Fidel and Roza.

Mr. Richards was also a generous philanthropist. He, along with his
late wife, was instrumental in founding Broadway Cares/Equity Fights
AIDS and Meals on Wheels. He went on to establish the liver and
kidney transplant unit at the NYU Medical Center which bears his
wife's name. Mr. Richards also created the New York Center for
Children to care for abused children and their families.

He is survived by his brother Bruce Klein, his niece Lisa Kirschner
and nephew Sean Klein. Other family survivors include Mrs. Elaine
Johnson Wold, Diana Johnson Firestone, and J. Seward Johnson, Jr.

Funeral services will be held at Frank Campbell Funeral Chapel at
1076 Madison Avenue. Visitation hours will be Wednesday, Nov. 28
from 7-9 PM and Thursday, Nov. 29 from 2-4 PM and 7-9 PM.