Ralph [David] Richardson

Richardson, Ralph [David] (1902–83), actor. The excellent, if somewhat stiffly mannered English performer made his American debut as Mercutio and the Chorus in Katharine Cornell's Romeo and Juliet in 1935. He returned in 1946 as a member of the Old Vic to offer his Falstaff in Henry IV, Part I, Vanya in Uncle Vanya, Tiresias in Oedipus, and Lord Burleigh in The Critic. Richardson's later appearances were in four modern plays: The Waltz of the Toreadors (1957), Home (1970), No Man's Land (1976), and Early Days (1981); and in one classic role, Sir Peter Teazle in a 1963 revival of The School for Scandal. Biography: Ralph Richardson: An Actor's Life, Garry O'Connor, 1982.