About Lloyd Richards
Lloyd George Richards was a Canadian-American theatre director, and actor. While head of the National Playwrights Conference, he helped cultivate many of the most famous theater writers of the 20th century. He was also the dean of the Yale School of Drama from 1979 to 1991, and was the first Black director on Broadway. Richards first went to the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in 1966—its second season of existence—to direct Joel Oliansky's Bedford Forrest, about the Confederate general and an emancipated man's attempt to kill him. The production, starring James Edwards, was one of the O'Neill's first full undertakings, with Richards arriving before the construction on the play's stage was completed. Richards became good friends with Poitier at the time as too relatively poor actors trying to break through on Broadway.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.