Richard Parnell Habersham is an American actor in theatre and film, as well as, a real estate broker [1] [2] in New York City. He was born in Manhattan and raised in Harlem.
Habersham has appeared in theatre productions [3] such as Ron Mark's fantasy farce Panache! [4] and on Broadway in Joe Turner's Come and Gone, [5] [6] [7] the Tony Award nominated drama written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright August Wilson. Habersham played the role of Travis Younger [8] in the Union Square Theatre 25th Anniversary Off Broadway production of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun.
In film, [9] [10] Habersham played Eddie in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing , [2] [11] Theodore Cotter in The Long Walk Home, [12] [13] the young Jake Branch in the black-and-white independent feature Lou, Pat & Joe D, [14] and Cathy's younger brother in The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez, a "freewheeling musical comedy horror spoof" directed by Peter Sellars. [15]
Habersham earned his B.A. in history from the University of Virginia and his M.S. in real estate development from Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture. [2] The history of the American Civil War is one of his particular interests.
In 2019, Habersham ran for New York's 13th Congressional District. He also launched a nonprofit organization, solutionsNOW, with the goal of servicing members of that neighborhood.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Do the Right Thing | Eddie | |
| 1990 | The Long Walk Home | Theodore Cotter | |
| 1991 | The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez | Cathy's Younger Brother |
Richard Parnell Habersham as the prodigy astronomer delivering a rhapsodic tribute to Betelgeuse.
Featuring: Kimberleigh Aarn, Angela Bassett, L. Scott Caldwell, Richard Parnell Habersham, Ed Hall, Delroy Lindo, Jamila Perry, Bo Rucker, etc.
Ving Rhames does a lot with the small role of Odessa's husband, and Richard Habersham, Jason Weaver and Erika Alexander are gently affecting as her children.
Most of the film's key moments are spent with Odessa and her family, who are not activists per se but who show great courage in their everyday life, like when one of the young sons (played with slow-burn intensity by Richard Habersham) stands up to racist bullies harassing his sister.
Flamboyant Broadway renaissance man Peter Sellars was the director of The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez. This freewheeling musical horror spoof isn't meant to be taken seriously, so don't be fooled by those Karloffian trappings. Ron Vawter plays the title character for all it's worth. He has to, with such formidable competition as Joan Cusack, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Werner Klemperer …