Ron Richardson
actor and singer
Ronald E. Richardson (January 27, 1952 – April 5, 1995) was an American actor and operatic baritone. Richardson began his career in the mid-1970s appearing in regional theater and opera productions. He appeared in several Broadway musicals from 1978 to 1993, arguably best known for his Tony Award and Drama Desk Award-winning performance as "Jim" in the 1985 Broadway musical Big River.
Early life
Richardson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, William F. Richardson, worked in the meat-packing industry and his mother operated a beauty parlor in their home for more than 30 years. He had three siblings—brothers, Franklyn Richardson and Raymond Lloyd Richardson, and sister Vickilyn Richardson (now Vickilyn Reynolds). By the age of four, Richardson was singing at a neighborhood church. In high school, he performed in choirs and, eventually, dinner theater musicals. He also studied voice and music composition. After high school, Richardson entered the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he studied voice and played roles in classic musicals such as Show Boat, Camelot, and Man of La Mancha.
“Ron Richardson” enters the record as actor and singer. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Richardson, actor and singer can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7364318. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1952, 1995, 1978 and 1993.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ron Richardson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.