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Michael Richards

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Michael Richards
Michael Richards at the 44th Emmy Awards, August, 1992 (Photo by Alan Light).
Height6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[1]
Spouse(s)Cathleen Richards
(divorced)
For other people named Michael Richards, see Michael Richards (disambiguation).

Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor, three-time Emmy Award winner, writer, producer, and comedian, best known for playing Cosmo Kramer on the television show Seinfeld, which ran from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, on NBC.

Biography

Early life

Michael Richards was born in Culver City, California, to William Richards, an electrical engineer, and Phyllis Nardozzi, a medical records librarian. Richards was brought up with no specific religious tradition.[2] He attended the California Institute of the Arts but received a BA degree in drama from The Evergreen State College in 1975. He also had a short-lived Improv act with Ed Begley, Jr. during this period. Enrolled at Los Angeles Valley College, he continued to dominate student productions. He later said: "I am grateful that the public schools introduced me to the performing arts." He was drafted during the Vietnam War and stationed in Germany as one of the co-directors of the V Corps Training Road Show. He produced and directed shows dealing with race relations and drug abuse; "This was a successful, educational operation, boosting the morale of our men and incorporating the arts into the service." He then spent two years in the Army developing educational skits and a couple more years "finding himself" at a commune in the Santa Clara Mountains; he drove a bus and developed a stand-up comedy act in 1979.

Career

Richards got his big TV break nine months later appearing in Billy Crystal's first cable TV special. In 1980, he began as one of the cast members on ABC's Fridays television show, including a famous instance in which guest Andy Kaufman refused to deliver his scripted lines, leading Richards to bring the cue cards on screen to Kaufman, before a small riot ensued (Richards later claimed he was in on the joke).[3] He was also famous for a sketch that he did on the show, during which he simply improvised with a large pile of dirt and some army toys. Richards had a guest starring role on NBC's Miami Vice as an unscrupulous bookie. He also had a guest role on Cheers as a character trying to collect on an old bet with Sam Malone. He made several guest appearances with Jay Leno as an accident-prone fitness expert, and gained a screen credit portraying "Stanley Spadowski" in "Weird Al" Yankovic's movie UHF in 1989. His famous improvisation skills can be witnessed in this movie. As is confirmed in the feature commentary and in the deleted scenes special feature on the UHF DVD, the scene where Stanley Spadowski was playing with the toy man he found in the box of Corn Flakes was completely improvised by Michael.

In the same year, he was cast as Cosmo Kramer (based on the real-life Kenny Kramer) in the NBC television series Seinfeld, which was created by fellow Fridays cast member Larry David and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Although it got off to a slow start, by the mid-1990s, the show had become one of the most popular sitcoms in television history. The series ended its nine-year run in 1998 at #1 in the Nielsen Ratings. He also played himself in Episode 6 of Season 1 "The Flirt Episode" (1992) of the acclaimed HBO series, The Larry Sanders Show.

Richards also played a cameo role in So I Married an Axe Murderer where he was an "insensitive man," and had a supporting role as an escaped convict in the John Ritter movie Problem Child. He also made guest appearances on the popular sitcom Night Court.

In 2000, after the end of Seinfeld, Richards began work on a new series for NBC, his first major project since Seinfeld's high-profile finale. The Michael Richards Show was originally conceived as a comedy/mystery, with Richards playing a bumbling private eye, but the first pilot failed to fester with test audiences. NBC ordered that the show be retooled into a more conventional, office-based sitcom before its premiere. After a few weeks of poor ratings and negative reviews, it was cancelled.

The lead role in the series Monk was originally written for Richards,[4] but there was concern that audiences, used to seeing him do comedy, might not accept him in the role. [5] After being developed at ABC and then picked up by USA, the show was cast with Tony Shalhoub and became a critically acclaimed hit.

Starting in 2004, he and his fellow Seinfeld cast members have provided interviews and audio commentaries for the Seinfeld DVDs.

Personal life

Richards married former casting director Cathleen Richards and they had a daughter, Sophia. The two were divorced in 1990 and he resides northwest of the San Fernando Valley, specifically The Conejo Valley, near Thousand Oaks, California. Richards was a Master Mason and also held 33° in the Scottish Rite. He was very active in preservation of masonic research, and in his personal life is an avid reader. Richards held membership in the following lodges: Riviera Lodge No. 780, Culver City–Foshay No. 467 lodge, Southern California Research Lodge. He was also a Life Member of the Los Angeles Scottish Rite Valley and a Life Member of the Scottish Rite Research Society.[6][7] As of November 2006, Richards is no longer involved in Masonry.[8]

Controversies

The Laugh Factory incident

File:Michael richards on letterman.jpg
Michael Richards apologizing on The Late Show.

During a November 17, 2006, stand-up comedy routine at The Laugh Factory in West Hollywood, California, Richards responded to a black heckler[9] with racially charged comments, yelling, "Fifty years ago we'd have you upside-down with a fucking fork up your ass" (a reference to lynching [9][10][11]), and repeatedly shouting "He's a nigger!" The heckler responded by repeatedly saying "That was uncalled for!" before calling Richards a "fucking cracker-ass motherfucker" and "fucking white boy". [12] The incident ended when Richards walked off of the stage, leaving an employee from The Laugh Factory apologizing afterward.[13][14] Although Richards performed at The Laugh Factory the following night without incident, [15] the company has since stated that Richards is no longer welcome at the venue. [16][17]

During a November 20, 2006, satellite appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman (with Jerry Seinfeld as the pre-booked guest), Richards apologized, saying, "For me to be at a comedy club and flip out and say this crap, I'm deeply, deeply sorry... I'm not a racist. That's what's so insane about this." [18] He described his outburst as one of "pure rage". Richards told Letterman that he was trying to undermine the hecklers by being more outrageous, but his approach backfired. Richards also stated that he returned to the stage to apologize but, by that time, most of the audience had already left.

According to Frank McBride and Kyle Doss, the two men who were targeted by the outburst, they were merely ordering drinks after arriving late to the comedy club, and not heckling. The men, represented by attorney Gloria Allred, are seeking "monetary compensation" from Richards though Richards' publicist Howard Rubenstein says there are no plans to pay the men.[19]During their appearance on The Today Show, McBridge and Doss rejected Richards' apology. Doss said, “No, I think that apology was totally fake; it was forced. I feel like that was a career move. It wasn’t sincere.” [20]

Well known fellow comedian Tom Green defended Michael Richards.[21]

Richards is undergoing anger management counseling, and also met with Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton in order to discuss the personal issues that fueled the remarks.

Reports also surfaced that Richards called a heckler "fucking Jew" and said "You people are the cause of Jesus dying" during a stand-up routine in April 2006. Publicist Howard Rubenstein confirmed the report, but added that the remarks were made in jest as part of the comedy act. Rubenstein initially also added that Richards is himself Jewish.[22] He later clarified that Richards has no Jewish ancestry, was not born into the Jewish religion, and has not converted to Judaism, although he "adheres to Jewish philosophy" and "had some very potent and important mentors in his life that were Jewish".[23][8][2]

Filmography

Faye Dunaway and Michael Richards at the 47th Emmy Awards Governor's Ball, September 11, 1994, photo by Alan Light
Wikiquote has quotations related to Michael Richards.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michael Richards.

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Michael Richards Height" (HTML). CelebHeights.com. 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-20.
  2. ^ a b Staff Reports (2006-11-27). "Michael Richards: Still Not a Jew". The Los Angeles Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2006-11-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ Michael Richards 'Speaking Freely' transcript. via First Amendment Center, Recorded Feb. 28, 2002, in Aspen, Colorado
  4. ^ Iqbal, Navid (August 8, 2006). Creator of 'Monk' gets behind show's act. Daily Record
  5. ^ Battaglio, Stephen (August 16, 2002). 'Monk': ABC loss was cable's gain. New York Daily News
  6. ^ Brother Michael A. Richards: Renaissance Man, not "Kramer" The Scottish Rite Journal, September 2000, accessed 10 February, 2006.
  7. ^ "The Scottish Rite Journal of Freemasonry", Southern Jurisdiction USA, August 2003, accessed 7 August, 2006
  8. ^ a b "Michael Richards: Chosen by Choice". Radar. 2006-11-27. Retrieved 2006-11-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  9. ^ a b "Michael Richards in hot water over racial slant" (HTML). ON DEADLINE Breaking news and must-read stories. USA Today. 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-21.
  10. ^ "Michael Richards takes an unfunny pratfall" (HTML). Commentary. MSNBC. 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-21.
  11. ^ "Seinfeld's Richards utters racial taunts during routine" (HTML). CBC arts. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-20.
  12. ^ Washingtonpost.com Washington Post article
  13. ^ TMZ Staff (2006). ""Kramer's" Racist Tirade -- Caught on Tape" (HTML). In The Zone. TMZ.com. Retrieved 2006-11-20.
  14. ^ ""Seinfeld" star Richards under fire for racial outburst" (HTML). News wire. Reuters. 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-20.
  15. ^ "Michael Richards, Seinfeld's Kramer, stuns audience with racial rampage" (HTML). The Detroit News. 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-22.
  16. ^ Mariel Concepción (2006). "Comedian Michael "Kramer" Richards Goes Into Racial Tirade, Banned From Laugh Factory" (HTML). News wire. Vibe.com. Retrieved 2006-11-21.
  17. ^ "The Laugh Factory's official statement regarding Michael Richards" (HTML). Laugh Factory IMG Media LLC. 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-24.
  18. ^ Associated Press (2006). "Richards Apologizes for Racial Slurs" (HTML). TV News. MSN. Retrieved 2006-11-24.
  19. ^ "Scared men want apology - and maybe some money from Kramer". nydailynews.com. Retrieved 2006-11-27.
  20. ^ Access Hollywood (2006). "Michael Richards hecklers tell their story" (HTML). MSNBC. Retrieved 2006-11-24.
  21. ^ http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7005642318
  22. ^ Schou, Solvej (2006-11-22). "Richards Apologizes, Hires Crisis Expert". the Washington Post. Retrieved 2006-11-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  23. ^ "Michael Richards a Jew?". JTA Daily Briefing. 2006-11-27. Retrieved 2006-11-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
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