Theater Director Lloyd Richards Dies

Lloyd Richards, theater director and educator who mentored the career of August Wilson and directed the legendary Broadway production of "A Raisin in the Sun," has died of heart failure.

Richards died Thursday at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital, Victoria Nolan, deputy director of the Yale School of Drama, said Friday.

Besides Wilson, Richards helped shape the career of many playwrights, working with writers primarily at three major theatrical institutions — the National Playwrights Conference at the O'Neill Center in Waterford, Conn., as dean of the Yale School of Drama and artistic director of the Yale Repertory Theatre.