Frank Hart Rich Jr.
(born 1949) is an American essayist and
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
op-ed columnist,
who held various positions within ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' from 1980 to 2011.
He has also produced television series and documentaries for
HBO.
Rich is currently writer-at-large for ''
New York'' magazine, where he writes essays on politics and culture and engages in regular dialogues on news of the week for the "Daily Intelligencer".
He served as executive producer of the long-running HBO comedy series ''
Veep
''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of his sitcom ''The Thick of It''. The protagonist of ''Veep'' ...
'', having joined the show at its outset in 2011, and of the HBO drama series ''
Succession''.
Early life
Born on June 2, 1949, Rich grew up in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
His mother, Helene Fisher (née Aaronson), a schoolteacher and artist, was from a
Russian Jewish family that originally settled in Brooklyn, New York, but moved to Washington after the
stock market crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...
. His father, Frank Hart Rich, a businessman, was from a
German Jewish
The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...
family long-settled in Washington.
He attended public schools and graduated from
Woodrow Wilson High School in 1967.
Rich attended
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
,
. At Harvard, he became the editorial chairman of ''
The Harvard Crimson
''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...
'',
the university's daily student newspaper. Rich was an honorary Harvard College scholar and a member of
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
, and received a Henry Russell Shaw Traveling Fellowship. He graduated ''
magna cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...
'' in 1971 with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree in
American history
The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of Settlement of the Americas, the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Native American cultures in the United States, Numerous indigenous cultures formed ...
and
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
.
Career
Before joining ''The New York Times'' in 1980, Rich was a
film and television critic for ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'', a film critic for ''
The New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'', and film critic and senior editor of ''
New Times Magazine
''New Times'' was an American glossy bi-weekly national newspaper published from 1973 to 1979 by George A. Hirsch.
History and profile
Hirsch had been publisher of ''New York'' magazine, but resigned after conflicts with founder/editor Clay F ...
''. In the early 1970s, he was a founding editor of the ''Richmond (Va.) Mercury''.
Theater criticism
Rich served as chief theater critic of ''The New York Times'' from 1980 to 1993, earning the nickname "Butcher of Broadway" for his supposed power over the prospects of Broadway shows. He first won attention from theater-goers with an essay for ''
The Harvard Crimson
''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...
'' about the
Broadway musical
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...
''
Follies
''Follies'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman.
The plot takes place in a crumbling Broadway theater, now scheduled for demolition, previously home to a musical revue (based on the ''Ziegfeld Fol ...
'' (1971), by
Stephen Sondheim, during its pre-
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
tryout run in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
.
In his study of the work, Rich was "the first person to predict the legendary status the show eventually would achieve". The article "fascinated"
Harold Prince
Harold Smith Prince (born Harold Smith; January 30, 1928 – July 31, 2019), commonly known as Hal Prince, was an American theatre director and producer known for his work in musical theatre.
One of the foremost figures in 20th century America ...
, the musical's co-
director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
, and "absolutely intrigued" Sondheim, who invited the undergraduate to lunch to further discuss his feelings about the production.
In a retrospective article for ''
The New York Times Magazine
''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...
'', "Exit the Critic," published in 1994, Rich reflected on the controversies during his tenure as drama critic as well as on the playwrights he championed and on the tragedies that decimated the New York theater during the height of the AIDS crisis. A collection of Rich's theater reviews was published in a book, ''Hot Seat: Theater Criticism for ''The New York Times'', 1980–1993'' (1998). He also wrote ''The Theatre Art of Boris Aronson'', with Lisa Aronson, in 1987.
Rich's influence on Broadway shows is mentioned in the ''
Tick, Tick... Boom!'' number "Play Game", featured in the
2021 film adaptation: "Write for the movies, write for TV. So what if it's crap? At least you won't write for free. Make thousands of dollars for a first draft. Your life won't depend on whether Frank Rich laughed".
Media and political criticism
From 1994 to 2011, Rich was an
op-ed columnist for ''The New York Times''; he wrote regularly on the connections between
mass media
Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets.
Broadcast media transmit information ...
and American politics. His columns, now appearing in ''New York Magazine'', make regular references to a broad range of popular culture—including television, movies, theater and literature. In addition to his long-time work for the ''Times'' and ''New York'', Rich has written for many other publications, including ''
The New York Review of Books
''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...
'' and ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
''.
The commentator
Bill O'Reilly, host of the
Fox News Channel talk show ''
The O'Reilly Factor
''The O'Reilly Factor'' (originally titled ''The O'Reilly Report'' and also known as ''The Factor'') is an American cable television news and talk show. ''The O'Reilly Factor'' first aired in the United States on Fox News Channel on October 7 ...
'', criticized Rich following Rich's criticism of Fox in 2004 as having a
politically conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization ...
bias
Bias is a disproportionate weight ''in favor of'' or ''against'' an idea or thing, usually in a way that is closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair. Biases can be innate or learned. People may develop biases for or against an individual, a group ...
.
Rich also attracted controversy by dismissing the
historical-drama film ''
The Passion of the Christ
''The Passion of the Christ'' is a 2004 American epic biblical drama film produced, directed and co-written by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus of Nazareth, Maia Morgenstern as Mary, mother of Jesus, and Monica Bellucci as Mary ...
'' (2004), directed by
Mel Gibson
Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apoca ...
, as "nothing so much as a porn movie, replete with
slo-mo climaxes and pounding music for the money shots."
In a January 2006 appearance on ''
The Oprah Winfrey Show
''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicago, Illinois. Produced ...
'', commenting on the
James Frey
James Frey (born September 12, 1969) is an American writer and businessman. His first two books, ''A Million Little Pieces'' (2003) and '' My Friend Leonard'' (2005), were bestsellers marketed as memoirs. Large parts of the stories were later f ...
memoir scandal, Rich expanded on his usage in his column of the term ''
truthiness
Truthiness is the belief or assertion that a particular statement is true based on the intuition or perceptions of some individual or individuals, without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts. Truthiness can range from i ...
'' to summarize a variety of ills in culture and politics. His book, ''The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina'' (2006), criticized the American media for what he perceived as its support of
George W. Bush's administration's propaganda following the
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
and during the run-up to the Iraq war.
A July 2009 column focused on what Rich believes is the
bigoted
Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, rel ...
nature of President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
's detractors. On the
Tea Party movement
The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. Members of the movement called for lower taxes and for a reduction of the national debt and federal budget defi ...
, which emerged in 2009, Rich opined that at one of their rallies they were "kowtowing to secessionists." He wrote that death threats and a brick thrown through a congressman's window were a "small-scale mimicry of "
Kristallnacht
() or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation fro ...
" (or "night of broken glass", the November 1938 anti-Jewish
pogrom
A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...
in
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
).
[Jewish Journal: "When Jews on the Left See Americans on the Right as Nazis" by Dennis Prager]
May 4, 2010 In his essays at ''New York'', Rich has continued to examine the American right, including its latest revival during the candidacy and presidency of Donald Trump.
Television
Since 2008, Rich has been a creative consultant for HBO, where he helps initiate and develop new programming and is an Executive Producer of ''
Veep
''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of his sitcom ''The Thick of It''. The protagonist of ''Veep'' ...
'', the long-running comedy series created by
Armando Iannucci
Armando Giovanni Iannucci (; born 28 November 1963) is a Scottish satirist, writer, director, producer, performer, and panellist. Born in Glasgow to Italian parents, Iannucci studied at the University of Glasgow followed by the University of ...
and starring
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus ( ; born January 13, 1961) is an American actress, comedian, and producer who worked on the comedy television series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1982–1985), ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), ''The New Adventures ...
. He is also an Executive Producer of ''
Succession'', the HBO drama series created by
Jesse Armstrong
Jesse David Armstrong (born 13 December 1970) is a British author, screenwriter, and producer. He is a co-creator of the Channel 4 comedy series ''Peep Show'' (2003–2015) and '' Fresh Meat'' (2011–2016), and the creator of the HBO satirica ...
that debuted in June 2018 to critical praise.
Rich was also an Executive Producer for the HBO documentaries ''
Six by Sondheim'' (2013), directed by
James Lapine
James Elliot Lapine (born January 10, 1949) is an American stage director, playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for ''Into the Woods'', '' Falsettos'', and '' Passion''. He ...
, and ''Becoming Mike Nichols'' (2016), directed by
Douglas McGrath
Douglas Geoffrey McGrath (February 2, 1958 – November 3, 2022) was an American screenwriter, film director, and actor. He received various accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Tony Award, and Primetime Emmy Awar ...
.
Awards
Rich's journalistic honors include the
George Polk Award
The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...
for commentary in 2005 and, in 2011, the Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
(also his alma mater). In 2011, Rich was awarded an honorary doctorate from
The New School
The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...
. In 2016, he received the Mirror Award for Best Commentary from the Newhouse School at
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
. He was inducted into the
Theater Hall of Fame in 2015.
Rich was twice a
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
finalist, in 1987 and 2005. In 2010, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the
Silurians Press Club.
Rich received
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
s in 2015, 2016, and 2017 for ''
Veep
''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of his sitcom ''The Thick of It''. The protagonist of ''Veep'' ...
'', which was named Outstanding Comedy Series, and in 2020 for ''Succession'', which was named Outstanding Drama Series. He also received a
Golden Globe in 2020 for ''Succession'', which won the Best Drama Series prize. He has won three
Peabody Awards: for ''Succession'' in 2020, for ''Veep'' in 2017, and, in 2013, for ''Six by Sondheim'', which was also honored with the ASCAP Deems Taylor Television Broadcast Award.
Criticism
In 2011, ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'' included him along with
Rachel Maddow and
Ayn Rand as one of the "Most Over-Rated Thinkers" of the year, calling him "an utterly conventional pundit of the old salon liberal variety".
Personal life
Rich lives in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
with his wife, Alex Witchel, an author and journalist; they married in 1991.
He has two sons from his previous marriage to Gail Winston,
Simon Rich
Simon Rich (born June 5, 1984) is an American humorist, novelist, and screenwriter. He has published two novels and six collections of humor pieces, several of which appeared in ''The New Yorker.'' His novels and short stories have been translat ...
, a novelist and short story writer who created the television series ''
Man Seeking Woman
''Man Seeking Woman'' is an American surrealist romantic comedy television series that aired for three seasons on FXX from January 14, 2015, to March 8, 2017. The series is set in Chicago, about a naïve and soft-spoken man in his 20s named Josh ...
'' and was a writer for ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'', and
Nathaniel Rich, who is a novelist, journalist, and essayist.
Memoir
Frank Rich's memoir ''Ghost Light'' (2000) chronicles his childhood in the late 1950s and 1960s in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, with a focus on his lifelong adoration of the theater and the impact it had on his life.
Bibliography
*Rich, Frank; Aronson, Lisa (1987). ''The Theatre Art of Boris Aronson''. New York: Knopf. .
*Rich, Frank (1998). ''Hot Seat — Theater Criticism for The New York Times, 1980–1993''. New York: Random House. .
*Rich, Frank (2000). ''Ghost Light — A Memoir.'' New York: Random House. .
*Rich, Frank (2006). ''The Greatest Story Ever Sold — The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina''. New York:
Penguin Press. .
References
External links
Column archiveat ''
New York'' magazine
Column archiveat ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''
Column archiveat ''
The Harvard Crimson
''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...
''
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rich, Frank
1949 births
Living people
American columnists
American essayists
American people of German-Jewish descent
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American political writers
American theater critics
Critics employed by The New York Times
George Polk Award recipients
The Harvard Crimson people
The New York Times columnists
Jewish American writers
Journalists from Washington, D.C.
People from Manhattan
Primetime Emmy Award winners
Harvard College alumni
Journalists from New York City
Woodrow Wilson High School (Washington, D.C.) alumni
Jewish American journalists
American male essayists
New York (magazine) people
21st-century American Jews