Richmond Shepard obit

Richmond Shepard, Celebrated as ‘The World’s Oldest Mime,’ Dies at 90

 

He was not on the list.

Richmond Shepard, one of America’s foremost practitioners and proponents of the art of mime, died in Manhattan July 2 at age 90.

Shepard’s family announced his passing with an unusual request: “In lieu of flowers, Richmond has requested a moment of noise.”

Although he was most famous as a mime — and received fresh notoriety three years ago when he was featured in an online New Yorker video, “The World’s Oldest Mime” — Shepard was also a well-known personality in the bicoastal theater communities as a director, critic and theater operator, with small stages that bore his name in both L.A. and New York.

Shepard was the author of “Mime: The Technique of Silence,” a 1970 book considered an essential text for anyone looking to take up the craft. His early television work included appearances on “The Today Show” and talk shows with Merv Griffin, Steve Allen and Dinah Shore. His spots on episodic TV —sometimes in whiteface, sometimes not — included “The FBI,” “That Girl,” “Kojak,” “The Jeffersons,” “T.J. Hooker” … and “Ally McBeal,” the show that made a household name of one of his four daughters, singer-songwriter Vonda Shepard.

For all of the success he had giving audiences the silent treatment, Shepard had plenty of speaking roles in his career, on- and off-screen. In Los Angeles in the 1970s, he opened some of the equity-waiver theaters that became Hollywood’s Theatre Row before moving to New York in the late ’80s and becoming even more involved in the community of small theaters there. He founded an improv comedy troupe, Noo Yawk Tawk, which ran for several years at the Village Gate, and he became a drama critic for WNEW and Theatre Insider. Shepard opened an off-Broadway theater, the Writer Act Repertoire, and the long-running space that bore his name, the Richmond Shepard Theatre, in the 2000s and 2010s.

“Who would have thought that at this advanced age I would still be smearing white makeup on my face? I didn’t expect this,” he said in a 2009 documentary short about his career, “A Mime’s Life.” “I thought being a mime was my entrance into show business through the side door, or the back door.”

“There’s only one thing that pays less than mime,” Shepard quipped in a 2016 interview. “That’s poetry.” At the time, Shepard was continuing to headline his autobiographical show “You Wanna Be a What?!? (A Musical Memoir in Mime)” — with a title taken from his mother’s response when he announced his ultimate career path — at Don’t Tell Mama in New York.

Shepard was born in Brooklyn in 1929. “He took pride in being asked to leave Emory University for his social justice organizing in the 1940s,” his family said. With a PhD in communications, Shepard taught at Rutgers, USC, St. John’s and Cal State L.A. as well as his decades of private classes. Among the actors he coached were Lily Tomlin and Dick Van Dyke, whose 1980s sitcom he appeared on.

Raised Jewish, Shepard was reported by his family to have embraced Subud, an Indonesian-based spiritual movement, as his religious practice. He is survived by daughters Armina Hansen, Vonda Shepard, Brianna Shepard and Luana Carroll as well as four grandchildren.

 

Actor

Malcolm McDowell, Bruce Davison, Leslie Easterbrook, Gilbert Gottfried, Jim Hanks, Nathan Reid, Johnny Collins, Gene Micofsky, Michael Barra, Nicole Balsam, Melanie Iglesias, Steven Della Salla, Michael Leavy, Jason Leavy, Kyle Mullins, Robert Privitera, Briana Calcagno, Sean Imbraguglio, and Christopher McClellan in Abnormal Attraction (2018)

Abnormal Attraction

4.2

Virgil 'the Sandman'

2018

 

Danielle Bourgeois in Iris (2016)

Iris

Short

Subway Mime

2016

 

Fortissimo

Short

Stanley Farkas

2013

 

Like Father Like Sons (2012)

Like Father Like Sons

9.2

Short

Mr. Goodwarth

2012

 

Kink, Inc.

8.4

Short

Brandon

2009

 

Dan Burkarth and Richmond Shepard in Cold Storage (2009)

Cold Storage

Joseph Parmegian

2009

 

Calista Flockhart in Ally McBeal (1997)

Ally McBeal

6.9

TV Series

Joel's Father

1999

1 episode

 

The Van Dyke Show (1988)

The Van Dyke Show

6.9

TV Series

Jean Pierre

1988

1 episode

 

Vampire at Midnight (1987)

Vampire at Midnight

4.4

Chapman

1987

 

T.J. Hooker (1982)

T.J. Hooker

6.1

TV Series

Mime

1984

1 episode

 

Wayland Flowers in Madame's Place (1982)

Madame's Place

6.7

TV Series

Harpo Marx

1982

2 episodes

 

Rick Baker and Lily Tomlin in The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981)

The Incredible Shrinking Woman

5.5

Toy

1981

 

Those Were the Days (1980)

Those Were the Days

Short

Bekins Custodian

1980

 

Marla Gibbs, Paul Benedict, Franklin Cover, Sherman Hemsley, Roxie Roker, Isabel Sanford, and Berlinda Tolbert in The Jeffersons (1975)

The Jeffersons

7.5

TV Series

Mime (as Richmond Shephard)

1979

1 episode

 

You Light Up My Life (1977)

You Light Up My Life

4.8

2nd Commercial Director

1977

 

Kojak (1973)

Kojak

7.1

TV Series

Grundy

1975

1 episode

 

Someone I Touched (1975)

Someone I Touched

6.6

TV Movie

Shopper

1975

 

Insight (1960)

Insight

7.5

TV Series

Horacio

1974

1 episode

 

Roll, Freddy, Roll! (1974)

Roll, Freddy, Roll!

7.4

TV Movie

Pogo Man

1974

 

Andrew Prine in Simon, King of the Witches (1971)

Simon, King of the Witches

5.8

Stanley

1971

 

The F.B.I. (1965)

The F.B.I.

7.4

TV Series

Donald Willis

1970

1 episode

 

Mitzi's 2nd Special (1969)

Mitzi's 2nd Special

6.1

TV Movie

Harpo

1969

 

Dusty's Treehouse (1968)

Dusty's Treehouse

8.3

TV Series

Richmond (guest)

1968–1980

 

Medix

TV Series

Richmond (guest)

1967

 

Goldie Hawn, Joby Baker, Billy De Wolfe, Julie Parrish, and Ronnie Schell in Good Morning World (1967)

Good Morning World

6.6

TV Series

Dr. Green

1967

1 episode

 

Occasional Wife (1966)

Occasional Wife

7.6

TV Series

Dr. Swann

1966

1 episode

 

Bill Cosby and Robert Culp in I Spy (1965)

I Spy

7.2

TV Series

Cabbie

1966

1 episode

 

Never Too Late (1965)

Never Too Late

6.5

Indian Chief (uncredited)

1965

 

The Existentialist

7.3

Short

The Man

1963

 

Producer

A Mime's Life

producer

2009

 

Dan Burkarth and Richmond Shepard in Cold Storage (2009)

Cold Storage

producer

2009

 

Writer

A Mime's Life

contributing writer

2009