(Richard Loring accepting his award. Pic by Gareth Jacobs)
The Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) named Richard Loring as
the 2014 ACT Lifetime Achievement Award for Theatre.
Actor, singer, director, producer and mentor, Richard
Loring, started his career singing in the church choir from the age of seven
where he gained training in eisteddfods and classical lieder. In 1962, Loring
went to London to join the George Mitchell singers in the Ken Dodd Show in
Manchester, followed by Oh Marry Me
at the Royal Windsor Theatre and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and
Drama. He understudied and played Hero in A
Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the Strand Theatre, and
went on to play Rolf in The Sound of
Music for three years at the Palace Theatre.
Other shows include Robert
and Elizabeth and The Student Prince
at the Cambridge Theatre and a role in Sir Richard Attenborough’s first film Oh, What a Lovely War. In 1969, Loring
was invited to South Africa to play Tony in The
Boyfriend and West Side Story.
Although later performing in Lock up your
Daughters and the narrator in Joseph
and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, to name a few.
In his film career Richard starred in a vast number of films
including The Winners 1 (My Way overseas), The Baby Game and The God’s
must be Crazy II. Loring’s recording contract with EMI International began
with Sixteen Going on Seventeen from The Sound of Music in 1966. Gina’s Theme, the theme song from The Winners, was his first hit in South
Africa and its follow-up, Beautiful
Children, topped the charts for 18 weeks.
In 1977 at Abbey Road Studios he recorded There’ll Never Be Anyone Else but You
and Wonderful Summer with Sir Cliff
Richard. Richard’s LP Joseph and The Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat achieved platinum status.
He has starred in many TV shows and co-presented with Delia
Sainsbury the live award-winning Video
Two for three years. In 1983 he teamed up with production director, Debbie
Batzofin, to produce the company Specialized Entertainment and Major Events for
corporate clients. He went on to open the Sound Stage Supper Theatre in Midrand
in 1989. As Entertainment Consultant for Gold Reef City, Loring assisted in
opening two new theatres, the Globe Theatre in 2000 and the Lyric Theatre in
2007, where he co-produced the multi-award-winning productions Hairspray, Saturday Night Fever, That’ll be
the Day and Knights of Music.
While he has enjoyed much success in diverse fields of
entertainment, it is probably as producer and creator of the multi-award-winning
African Footprint that he is best
known today, receiving standing ovations over 12 years from enthusiastic
audiences around the globe. In 2012, he teamed up with business colleague,
Roland Seidel to open Richard’s Supper Stage in Sea Point.
After more than 52 years in the industry Loring is still
performing, producing shows and consulting. He is working towards creating an
African Footprint Academy – a sustainable body where highly-trained cast can
pass on their skills to talented young South Africans.
The 2014 ACT Awards ceremony was sponsored by Nedbank Arts
Affinity, hosted by Sun International and presented in association with the
Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO), Media24 Books,
ClassicFeel Magazine and was supported by the Distell Foundation and Business
and Arts South Africa (BASA).
Other Lifetime Achievement Award Winners include Richard
Cock for Music, Sam Nzima for Visual Art, Andre Brink for Literature and Mandie
van der Spuy for Arts Advocacy. Each Lifetime Achievement Award winner received
R30,000 as a cash prize.
For more information about the Arts & Culture Trust
(ACT) visit http://www.act.org.za/
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