Daniel Richter (born 1939 in
Darien, Connecticut
Darien ( ) is a coastal town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. With a population of 21,499 and a land area of just under 13 square miles, it is the smallest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast. It has the youngest population of any n ...
) is an American
mime
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support text in character sets other than ASCII, as well as attachments of audio, video, images, and application programs. Message ...
and actor who played the leader of a tribe of ape-men in ''
2001: A Space Odyssey''.
At the time of his casting in ''2001'', Richter was unknown, working mainly as a mime, leading a troupe in London. Kubrick made him largely responsible for choreographing the "
Dawn of Man" sequence, believing Richter could take the film away from Hollywood clichés of men in monkey suits. Richter and his troupe spent hours watching apes in the London zoo, particularly the especially popular
Guy the Gorilla
Guy the Gorilla (1946–1978) was a western lowland gorilla (''Gorilla gorilla gorilla'') who was London Zoo's most famous resident and often profiled on children's TV shows and natural history productions. The exact day of Guy's birth was unkn ...
, followed by hours of rehearsal mimicking their movements. After ''2001'', Richter appeared in the film ''
The Revolutionary''. In 2002, Richter published a book about his experiences entitled ''Moonwatcher's Memoir: A Diary of 2001: A Space Odyssey''.
Richter went on to work and live with
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
and
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Ono grew up i ...
, appearing in their 1972 ''
Imagine
Imagine may refer to:
* Imagination
Music Albums
* ''Imagine'' (Armin van Buuren album), 2008
* ''Imagine'' (Eva Cassidy album), 2002
* ''Imagine'' (Janice Vidal album), 2012
* ''Imagine'' (John Lennon album), 1971
** ''Imagine: John Lennon' ...
'' video at
Tittenhurst Park
Tittenhurst Park is a Grade II listed early Georgian country house set in off London Road at Beggar's Bush near Ascot and over the parish border into Sunningdale, both in the English county of Berkshire. It was famously the home of musici ...
. His memoir of this time, "The Dream Is Over", was released in 2012. In a 2019 article at the
Salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon (P ...
website, Richter told of how in 1969 he supplied heroin to Yoko and John Lennon while the Beatles were working in the studio.
He has climbed over 500 peaks in North America,
participating in and sometimes serving as an instructor in the
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...
.
Richter is son of New Yorker cartoonist
Mischa Richter
Mischa Richter (1910 – March 23, 2001) was an American cartoonist best known for his numerous cartoons published in ''The New Yorker'' over decades.
Early life
Richter was born in Kharkov, Russian Empire, where his father was the city's C ...
.
Filmography
*''
2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968) - Moonwatcher
*''
The Revolutionary'' (1970)
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richter, Daniel
American male film actors
American mimes
American autobiographers
Living people
1939 births