Of all the Facebook-software-generated birthday greetings that came in today, I was especially moved by one from Dan Richter, who played “Moonwatcher” in 2001 A Space Odyssey.
I haven’t spoken to Dan face-to-face for a full 28 years, but we’ve kept up the correspondence. Of all the famous people I’ve met and regard on friendly terms, I suspect that 100 years from now more people will be familiar with Richter (or at least his legendary performance) than any present-day Hollywood hotshot you could name.
Be honest — how many people in the year 2121 will know or care who Chris Pratt was? Or Dwayne Johnson? Or any other quarter-of-an-inch-deep actor of note? How many people will recall who Ed Sheeran was? Paul McCartney or Mick Jagger, okay, but Sheeran?
Here’s an L.A. Times Calendar piece that I wrote in ’93 about Dan Richter, the ’60-era mime who played the bone-tossing Moonwatcher in Stanley Kubrick‘s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The last time I linked to this piece was in July ’08. Here are three scans of the original article — #1, #2 and #3.
My father met Dan at a Connecticut AA meeting in ’92 or thereabouts, and at my dad’s suggestion I called a while later and visited Dan at this home in Sierra Madre for an interview. I remember he was dealing with chemotherapy at the time. He’s still with us and doing fine .
In 2012 Richter published a memoir — “The Dream Is Over” — mainly about a four-year period that he spent with John Lennon and Yoko One (’69 to ’73).
Nancy Porter, an old childhood friend who was also living in Sierra Madre in ’93, came with me to visit Dan at this mountainside home. She later complained that he talked too much about himself. “But he’s the guy who picked up the bone to the strains of ‘Thus Spoke Zarathrusta’,” I replied. “And…you know, he hung with Lennon all those years and his stories are fascinating.”
If you’re hanging with someone who has lived large and touched serious history and has several first-hand recollections to share, you sit and listen. Either you get that or you don’t.
“Final Six Minutes,” posted on 11.16.20:
The famous animal bone sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey lasts one minute and 54 seconds. It shows the moment in which Moonwatcher (Dan Richter) discovers a certain killer instinct that will save his tribe from extinction.
My favorite part is the final six seconds, starting at 1:48. This is when Moonwatcher says “okay, that was cool, I now understand how to kill prey for food…and now that I’ve figured this out I’m going to throw the fucking bone in the air and forget about it.”
Which he does. And then he runs his fingers through the sand and starts…whatever, daydreaming. I love this part…”fuck it, fuck the bone, I’m not doing this all day, I’m taking a break.”