The actor died from a “short illness” as his talent representatives shared the sad news on Monday evening. A statement from Scott Marshall Partners said: “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our beloved client, Richard Howard, at the age of 79, after a short illness.
“He is survived by his son, three stepdaughters and nine grandchildren.” Richard was the star of Olivier-nominated productions including as Sir Robert de Lesseps in the original cast of historical fiction Shakespeare In Love – an adaption of the 1998 film – at the Noel Coward Theatre.
He had also worked in theatre productions of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Macbeth and Romeo And Juliet across America, Europe and Asia. Richard appeared on screens where he starred in the ITV soap Emmerdale from 1979 to 1981. He played vicar Bob Jerome in twenty episodes of the long-running TV drama.
The actor had worked in an episode of Agatha Christie’s Poirot titled Four And Twenty Blackbirds back in 1989. The series followed Hercule Poirot, a famous Belgian detective, who has an impeccable knack for getting embroiled in a mystery, as he solves crimes along with Captain Hastings and Scotland Yard Chief Inspector James Japp.
Richard had also made an appearance in the TV series David Copperfield which told the Charles Dickens’ haunting tale of a boy who was sent away by his stepfather after his mother died but manages to triumph over incredible adversities. It had a stellar cast including Daniel Radcliffe, who went on to star as Harry Potter, as well as Maggie Smith, Ian McKellen and Dawn French. Richard had made just one appearance on the series in 1999.
He went on to star in BBC Radio 4 play The People’s Princess about George IV’s wife Caroline of Brunswick. Richard was an actor and director with the Jill Freud Theatre Company and was a member of the London Shakespeare Group. He was also part of the Stables Theatre Club in Manchester, and Brian Friel and Stephen Rea’s theatre company Field Day.
The actor was in Stanley at the National Theatre, which was about the life of painter Sir Stanley Spencer and won an Olivier for best new play in 1997, and a Kiln Theatre adaption of James Baldwin’s play about racial oppression in the US called Blues For Mr Charlie. He went on to teach at the highly-respected Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada). Richard was born in 1944 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire and leaves behind his son, three stepdaughters as well as nine grandchildren.
