Loading...
Creator
Easton, Richard, 1933-2019
Call number
*T-Mss 2022-006
Physical description
5.64 linear feet (13 boxes). 3 moving_image_recordings
Language
Multiple languages; Materials are primarily in English. Some correspondence and clippings are in Swedish.
Preferred Citation
Richard Easton papers, *T-Mss 2022-006. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

Richard Easton (1933-2019) was a Canadian stage, television, and film actor, who appeared in twenty-four Broadway productions and numerous plays in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. His papers, dating from 1938 to 2015, focus on his theatrical career and close relationships with theatrical luminaries through scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, clippings, programs, contracts, posters, flyers, collages, and some moving image recordings and awards and accolades.

Biographical/historical information

Richard Easton (1933-2019) was a classically-trained Canadian stage, television, and film actor, who had a six decade-long career. He was known for his work in the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) series The Brothers (1972-1976).

Easton was born John Richard Easton in Montreal, Canada in 1933. He began acting on stage and radio in his teenage years at Brae Manor Playhouse, The Children's Theatre in Montreal, and the semiprofessional Montreal Repertory Theater. After graduating from Montreal High School in 1951, Easton moved to Ottawa, Canada to become a professional stage actor at The Canadian Repertory Theatre.

Easton auditioned for the Stratford Festival in Canada for the 1953 season and was cast as a second understudy to Alec Guinness in Richard III. At the end of the season, Guiness sponsored Easton and another actor to take one term of voice classes with Gwynneth Thurburn and Cissy Berry at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England. Following the term, Easton signed a two year contract with West End production management company HM Tennant Ltd. run by Hugh "Binkie" Beaumont. He eventually was lent to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and was cast in supporting roles in Shakespearean plays that toured Western Europe.

In 1956, Easton returned to the Stratford Festival in Canada and was cast in Henry V, starring Christopher Plummer, and in The Merry Wives of Windsor. During the summer, Easton was signed by John Houseman (then-artistic director of the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut) to replace Canadian actor Donald Harron in three plays at the Phoenix Theater on Broadway.

During his first day of rehearsal in 1957, Easton met American actor and director Ellis Rabb. Easton and Rabb formed a close relationship. In 1960, Easton, Rabb, and English actress Rosemary Harris (who married Rabb) formed The Association of Producing Artists (APA) theater company. Rabb served as the artistic director for the APA, which dissolved after ten years. During its last three years, the APA was in residence at the Lyceum Theater on Broadway, and the resident company included Helen Hays, Eva Le Gallienne, and Uta Hagen. Easton also met American producer and director Jack O'Brien through the APA.

Easton appeared fairly regularly on Broadway in plays from 1957 through the early 1970s. In 1958, he won a Theatre World Award for his performance in The Country Wife. From 1972 to 1976, he appeared as Brian Hammond in the BBC drama The Brothers.

In the mid-1980s, Easton joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). After four years with the RSC, Easton became a part of Kenneth Branagh's Renaissance Theatre Company. He also appeared as Constable Charles Delabreth in Branagh's film adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry V (1989).

Easton taught at the University of San Diego and worked with Jack O'Brien at the Old Globe in San Diego, California for ten years. In 2001, Easton returned to Broadway to co-star with Robert Sean Leonard in The Invention of Love by Tom Stoppard. The performance won him the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play in 2001.

Easton's last performance on Broadway was in Macbeth starring Ethan Hawke in 2013.

In 2019, Easton died in New York City.

Scope and arrangement

The Richard Easton papers, dating from 1938 to 2015, recount mainly his stage career and relationships with theater dignitaries through scrapbooks, subject files, photographs, and awards and accolades. The bulk of the collection consists of eight scrapbooks, spanning from 1940 through 2004, mostly focused on various stage productions. Another large portion of the papers comprises subject files incorporating contracts, personal and professional correspondence, programs, flyers, photographs, notes, posters, moving image recordings, collages, and a costume sketch. The rest of the collection features headshots, production, and friend photographs; and award statuettes, medals, and certificates.

The eight scrapbooks relate mostly to Easton's stage career, although his television work on The Brothers (1972-1976) and Benjamin Franklin (2002) are also present. Seven scrapbooks cover Easton's career chronologically from 1940 to 2004. These scrapbooks consist of photographs, programs, clippings, flyers, folded posters, and occasional drawings and collages. Some of the materials in the scrapbooks fall outside of their respective date ranges. Scrapbooks with earlier date ranges have prints accompanied by paper slips that identify people, theaters, and productions.

The other scrapbook, titled "Award Winning Dressing Room 8," contains mostly photographs with some collages and clippings from Easton's dressing room from 1990 to 1995. Most of the photographs in this scrapbook consist of candid Polaroid prints of various cast members with inscriptions and collages.

The subject files span Easton's six-decade career and feature early-career contracts, cast and set photographs, personal and professional correspondence, theatrical and memorial programs, mentoring and early career memories notes, collages, a Romeo and Juliet (1959) costume sketch, reading selections, and Easton's monthly schedule. The Brothers (1972-1976), Benjamin Franklin (2002), the Belgrade Theatre production of The Sound of Music (1983), and Workshop Theater Company's Will-A-Thon are well-represented productions and events. Of note are a copy of Herbert Berghof's memorial program with an inscription from Uta Hagen; Easton's notes on his earliest memories of acting and his monthly schedule; and personal letters from Ellis Rabb, American composer Conrad Susa, American actor and director Daniel Jeremiah Sullivan, and Jack O'Brien.

The photographs constitute headshots of Easton, production shots of various theatrical and television casts, and candid shots of Easton's friends. Productions and companies appearing in the photographs include Branagh's Renaissance Theatre Company and casts of The Coast of Utopia (2006), Exit the King (1968), and The Rivals (2004).

Awards and accolades feature a 2001 Drama Desk Award glass quill and inkwell statuette, a 2011 Matador Award bull horn statuette from the Red Bull Theater, a 2008 Theater Hall of Fame medal, a 2014 Shakespeare Society medal, and Emmy and Tony award certificates.

Arrangement

Organized into scrapbooks, subject files, photographs, and awards and accolades.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of the Estate of Richard Easton, 2022.

Processing information

Processed by Amy Lau in 2026.

Using the collection

Location

Billy Rose Theatre Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Access restrictions

Box 1 is closed until Conservation completes treatment of scrapbook pages. Inquiries regarding audio and moving image materials in the collection may be directed to the Billy Rose Theatre Division (theatre@nypl.org). Audio and moving image materials may be subject to preservation evaluation and migration prior to access.