Martin Richards (producer)


Martin Richards was an Academy-Award winning American film producer.

Biography

Richards was born to Sidney "Sid" Klein, a stockbroker, and his wife, Shirley, and was raised just off the Grand Concourse in the Bronx.

Career

Richards won an Arthur Godfrey talent search, then appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and at the Copacabana. He later became a casting director, then a Broadway theatre and film producer.
Richards won the Best Picture Academy Award for Chicago, having optioned film rights to Miramax in 1991. As a Broadway producer, he won three Tony Awards for Best Musical and one Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, out of 10 nominations.

Personal life

Despite that Richards was gay, he became the third husband of Johnson & Johnson heiress and producer Mary Lea Johnson Richards; reportedly, the couple "adored each other".
Prior to their marriage, Johnson was married to her second husband, bisexual child psychiatrist Dr. Victor D'Arc. In 1976, Johnson publicly declared that her estranged husband and his homosexual lover had conspired to murder her and had hired a hitman; a hired bodyguard was beaten almost to death during a break-in that almost killed Johnson and Richards. Subsequently, the Bronx D.A's office made a case, and opened an investigation, though no charges were brought; the pair divorced in 1978. Johnson predeceased him, in 1990, leaving Richards a $50 million fortune. Subsequent to her death, Johnson's family waged a 12-year court battle seeking to render Richard's ineligible for a share of the Johnson & Johnson fortune. The court ruled in favor of Richards.
He created the New York Center for Children to care for abused children and their families, in her memory. He was known to throw lavish parties, and was close to Chita Rivera, who hosted a tribute to Richards on April 8, 2013, at the Edison Ballroom to benefit the center.

Death

Richards died from liver cancer at his home in Manhattan on November 26, 2012, at age 80. The marquees of Broadway theatres were dimmed in his memory the night of November 27, 2012 at 7 p.m.

Filmography