Cruse viewed the arts scene as a white-dominated misrepresentation of black culture, epitomized by George Gershwin's folk opera Porgy and Bess and Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun.
Among Richards' accomplishments are his staging the original production of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, debuting on Broadway to standing ovations on 11 March 1959, and in 1984 he introduced August Wilson to Broadway in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
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Carter is best known for his work as a child and teenager, both in the Broadway musical Raisin (based on the Lorraine Hansberry drama A Raisin in the Sun) and as the character Michael Evans, the youngest member of the Evans family, on the 1970s sitcom Good Times.
His other film credits include The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), Carmen Jones (1954), Porgy and Bess (1959), A Raisin in the Sun (1961), with Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee and Claudia McNeil, and a memorable turn as Mr. Prentice (again playing opposite Poitier) in the 1967 feature film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
He composed scores for the TV play A Raisin in the Sun (1989) and the film A Soldier's Story (1984).
Lorraine Hansberry, playwright and author of A Raisin in the Sun, the first play written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway.