Dick Richards has received over 50 major industry awards for his work as film director, photographer and tv commercial director — including the Golden Globe, Clio, Gold Medal, Cannes Lion for the best worldwide commercial, dozens of New York Art Directors Awards and an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.

Richards first rose to prominence during the 1960’s advertising revolution, becoming a world-renowned photographer. His focus on real people and American themes recalled his hero, Norman Rockwell. His photographs have been celebrated in several galleries and museums, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art and are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institute — including his iconic Levy’s Bread portrait of Buster Keaton. Mr. Richards also became an accomplished TV commercial director with clients such as Coca-Cola, Volkswagen, Polaroid, General Motors, Hertz and Pepsi.

Richards’ film career began with directing and writing the coming-of-age western The Culpepper Cattle Company (20th Century-Fox), a cult classic that earned him Screenwriter’s Annual Story Award given by the Writer’s Guild of America. He went on to direct the acclaimed Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins (Warner Bros.) and Farewell, My Lovely (Embassy Pictures). His filmography also includes March or Die (Columbia Pictures), Death Valley (Universal), Man, Woman and Child (Paramount Pictures), and Heat (New Century Vista).

Richards discovered, developed and produced Tootsie which became Columbia Pictures’ highest grossing film ever at the time — and the second highest grossing film of 1982 (behind ET). The film earned 10 Academy Award nominations — including one for Richards and Sidney Pollack for Best Picture of the Year. Richards and Pollack won the Golden Globe for Best Picture. Tootsie is ranked as #69 on AFI’s List of 100 Greatest American Films of All Time.

A native New Yorker, Richards is known as a storyteller and as an “actor’s director,” having worked with Robert Mitchum, Gene Hackman, Martin Sheen, Blythe Danner, Catherine Deneuve, Alan Arkin, Max von Sydow and Harry Dean Stanton, among many others. Richards’ career continues to branch out in new directions. His first play Turnaround is currently being produced in the United Kingdom. Richards’ first novel, Exposed, is due out in 2020. He currently sits on the board of the non-profit Enrichment Theatre Works.