Richard Kaplan is an Acadamy Award winning documentary film and television writer, director, and producer. He is also the recipient of an Emmy Award for outstanding historical and cultural programming.
Richard Kaplan was born in New York City in 1925 and is a graduate of Antioch College, where he majored in English and Political Science. He served three years in the United States Army during World War II, and began his film career after graduate studies in the Department of Cinema at the University of Southern California.
In 1973, he served as an Executive Producer for The American Film Theater and has worked with such renowned performers as Marlene Dietrich, Liv Ullmann, and Laurence Olivier. Richard Kaplan was Adjunct Professor of Film in the School of the Arts at Columbia University from 1990 to 1998 and was one of the founders of Columbia's Documentary Center and the organizer of its first documentary film series. He has also taught at the University of Southern California, University of Maryland, City College, Hunter College, Parsons School of Design, and New York University.
During 1984-1985, he was Associate Dean of Pratt Institute's School of Art and Design and from 1987 to 1991 served as a video consultant to Harvard University's Graduate School of Business. Richard Kaplan is a retired member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the International Documentary Association, and the Writers Guild of America. He has served on the Advisory Boards of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival and New York's Documentary Club and as chairman of the jury and jury member of numerous festivals both in the United States and abroad.
