Richard Backus (born March 28, 1945) is an American actor and television writer. He has been nominated for four

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

s for writing and one for acting.

Biography

Richard Backus was born in

Goffstown, New Hampshire Goffstown is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 18,577 at the 2020 census. The compact center of town, where 3,366 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as the Goffst ...

on March 28, 1945. He attended

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 ...

. He has been married to Sharon Romeyko since January 27, 1985.

Acting career

Richard Backus made his

Broadway theatre 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 ...

debut at the

Booth Theatre The Booth Theatre is a Broadway theater at 222 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1913, the theater was designed by Henry Beaumont Herts in the Italian Renaissance ...

in the original production of ''

Butterflies Are Free ''Butterflies Are Free'' is a 1972 American comedy-drama film based on the 1969 play by Leonard Gershe. The 1972 film was produced by M. J. Frankovich, released by Columbia Pictures, directed by Milton Katselas and adapted for the screen by Ger ...

''. The production began in October 1969 with Backus cast as the

understudy In theater, an understudy, referred to in opera as cover or covering, is a performer who learns the lines and blocking or choreography of a regular actor, actress, or other performer in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to ap ...

for

Keir Dullea Keir Atwood Dullea (; born May 30, 1936) is an American actor. He played astronaut David Bowman in the 1968 film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' and its 1984 sequel, '' 2010: The Year We Make Contact''. His other film roles include '' David and Lisa ...

in the role of Don Baker. He was first appeared in the role, which we would later take over, in 1971. Since then, he has appeared in several other Broadway productions, including ''

Ah, Wilderness! ''Ah, Wilderness!'' is a comedy by American playwright Eugene O'Neill that premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on October 2, 1933. It differs from a typical O'Neill play in its happy ending for the central character, and depiction of a ...

'', ''

Camelot Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as th ...

'', and most recently '' You Never Can Tell''. Other venues at which Backus has appeared include the

American Shakespeare Theatre The American Shakespeare Theatre was a theater company based in Stratford, Connecticut, United States. It was formed in the early 1950s by Lawrence Langner, Lincoln Kirstein, John Percy Burrell, and philanthropist Joseph Verner Reed. The Amer ...

, the

Ensemble Studio Theatre The Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) is a non-profit membership-based developmental theatre located in Hell's Kitchen, New York City. It has a dual mission of nurturing individual theatre artists and developing new American plays. Overview The En ...

, and the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

. Backus has also acted in film and television. In the seventies, Backus was in ''

Deathdream ''Deathdream'' (also known as ''Dead of Night'') is a 1974 horror film directed by Bob Clark and written by Alan Ormsby, and starring Richard Backus, John Marley, and Lynn Carlin. Filmed in Brooksville, Florida, it was inspired by the W. W. Jacob ...

'' and portrayed scheming but well-meaning Jason Saxton on ''

Lovers and Friends ''Lovers and Friends'' is an American soap opera that aired on NBC from January 3 to May 6, 1977. When the show didn't catch on immediately, NBC put the show on hiatus for seven months, and then brought it back on December 6, 1977 as a retooled sh ...

''. He later replaced

Eric Roberts Eric Anthony Roberts (born April 18, 1956) is an American actor. His career began with a leading role in '' King of the Gypsies'' (1978) for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He was nominated again at the Golden Globes ...

in the role of Ted Bancroft on '' Another World''. From 1980 through 1981, he portrayed Barry Ryan on the soap opera ''

Ryan's Hope ''Ryan's Hope'' is an American soap opera created by Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer, airing for 13 years on ABC from July 7, 1975, to January 13, 1989. It revolves around the trials and tribulations within a large Irish-American family in th ...

'', a performance for which he was nominated for the 1981

for Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role in a Daytime Drama Series.

Writing career

Richard Backus has been a

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

since as early as 1989. He has worked on three television shows: ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...

'', ''

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as a web series on Hulu and iTunes ...

'', and ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...

''. ''As the World Turns'' and ''One Life to Live'' have each earned Backus two nominations for the

for Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team. The writing team behind ''One Life to Live'' was also nominated for the 2004

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Guil ...

Award for Daytime Serials.

Partial filmography

*''

'' (1974) - 'Andy' / Andy Brooks *''

The First Deadly Sin ''The First Deadly Sin'' is a 1980 American crime thriller film produced by and starring Frank Sinatra. The film features Faye Dunaway, David Dukes, Brenda Vaccaro, James Whitmore, and Martin Gabel in his final role. The film is based on the ...

'' (1980) - Walt Ashman

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Backus, Richard 1945 births American soap opera writers Living people People from Goffstown, New Hampshire Harvard University alumni Screenwriters from New Hampshire