APPLETON, Wis. — Diane Richardson can’t remember who it was. But back in high school — which today seems like a galaxy far, far away — someone suggested she try out for the school play.
The musical comedy offering at Xavier High School that year was called, “No, No, A Million Times No!”
Which, ironically enough, was the answer she gave her suitor.
“I never, of my own thinking, was going to try out for a play,’’ Richardson said. “Even though I was outgoing, I was stage-fright scared to perform in front of people.”
But …
“I wanted to be an actress,’’ she said.
So the long-forgotten luminary won out. Richardson tried out, got the lead role, and then, went on to a 23-year-career as a teacher for special needs children.
And that, more often than not, is how the story ordinarily ends for most would-be actresses.
But Diane’s Richardson’s story is not ordinary.
Along life’s journey there would be troubling, long-term health problems, an abusive marriage that led to addiction issues, and a moment at the conclusion of a week-long Al-Anon retreat where she came to the realization that if she didn’t change her behaviors, her life was on the fast track to heartache and regret.
That young girl who once wanted to be an actress was now in her early 50s, the health issues forcing her to cut short her teaching career and doing what she could – becoming an antique dealer and working at Younkers – just to stay afloat.
“Within a couple of years, I just totally changed my life and backed off of that (alcohol and valium) and became stronger in my faith,’’ she said.
She began to listen to Christian radio, and that’s where she heard the ad from “Actors, Models & Talent for Christ.’’ The Atlanta-based company was coming to Green Bay to hold auditions.
And, this time, Diane Richardson didn’t need any prodding. She told herself, yes, yes, a million times yes!
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The honeymoon was over before the honeymoon was over.
“He was a con man,’’ Richardson said of her new husband. “I thought I knew who he was.’’
What he turned out to be was a compulsive liar, a mean drunk and a lover of cocaine.
For Richardson, it began with a couple of glasses of wine, just to calm her nerves.
“I knew he was coming home at whatever point and might try to abuse me,’’ she said.
She started seeing a counselor in the marriage’s first year. The counselor recommended valium.
“I didn’t know anything about it,’’ she said. “I took it every day (for those two years of marriage).”
It helped her cope each day as another unpredictable evening fell, and it was her best chance at a restful night’s sleep.
And it wasn’t just the marriage. She was living in California, in the suburbs of Los Angeles, and every day in the classroom she would deal with children of gang members and addicts. The stress was immense.
“So the behaviors were crazy, crazy,’’ she said. “I had a very difficult time.”
Eventually, she signed up for the Al-Anon retreat, just to try and understand alcoholism and how it can affect those who live with an alcoholic. What she found were several other women in the same situation who were utilizing the same coping mechanisms as her. And what they all learned was the steps they were taking to cope in living with an alcoholic, they were becoming alcoholics themselves.
“I came to a realization the last night in my room,’’ Richardson said. “I had a nightmare; realizing that I was entering his world. I was becoming, or could become, what he was. I realized that I needed to get some brakes on this immediately. I grieved heavily that night because nobody wants to look at themselves and say, ‘Oh, I’ve got a problem. It’s not just him.’
“I needed to admit that I needed to get my foot on the brakes and stop choosing to drink to cope with how I was feeling, or if I was angry, feeling sorry for myself because I wasn’t married anymore, wanting that Cinderella wedding that lasts forever and it didn’t. Not being able to have kids. All those dreams that get squashed.
“I just grieved really heavily that night and realized my life is going to keep going in the wrong direction if I keep up this pattern. And so, I needed to change a lot of my behaviors. I don’t choose to drink hard alcohol. I don’t choose to enter that world again because I don’t trust that I’m going to be able to put the brakes on it, because it’s so powerful. Once it’s grabbed you in your life, it’s just right there and, like they say, 'You’re one drink away.' So, for me, vodka. I drank vodka. For me, I’m just not going there. I’m afraid of it, and I hope I’m always afraid of it.”
She was not the same person when she returned to Wisconsin. There was much work to do internally. Outwardly, things continued to digress. Worsening colon problems led to her being in-and-out of the classroom and going from doctor to doctor.
“It was heartache for me,’’ she said. “I was depressed. This is your career. You love the kids. You love the parents. You’re able to teach. You’re able to reach, pretty much, any kid.’’
She ended up going on medical disability, but she left teaching in California on a high note.
“I had a kid crying at the door the last day of school because he read for the first time, and he was the worst behavioral kid I had,’’ she said. “I didn’t think I’d be able to mold him or work with his behaviors. I was able to get him to sit there, sound words out and, all of a sudden, be able to read.’’
Then finally, six years after she was out of teaching, someone figured out her health problem.
“They removed 18 inches of my colon, and I’m a new person,’’ she said. “I don’t have any of those issues anymore.”
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If not for a willing and understanding person on the other end of the phone, Richardson would have blown the audition.
She had put it on her calendar, then forgot about it and it wasn’t until 1 p.m. on the day auditions were happening that it popped into her head.
She made a frantic call, got ahold of someone from AM&T for Christ, and was told, "No worries. Come on by."
The next day she got the callback. Her golden ticket had arrived.
She went to Chicago and trained for nine months, started doing student films, then landed in some local commercials for Marshfield Clinic and Meijer grocery stores.
She wanted to do more, but lacked experience and an agent. So she decided she would essentially become her own agent, displaying a persistence that would rival any mosquito.
Using Facebook, she began to make connections with producers, directors and fellow actors. She would send them her reel. And then she began to invest in herself.
In 2016, she landed a spot – as an extra – in director Robert Alaniz’s faith-based film, “Heavens to Betsy.”
“Well, the truth is, it was her persistence,’’ said Alaniz on why he put Richardson in his movie. “She set it in her mind that she was going to do this. She traveled all that way (from Green Bay to Frankfurt, Ill.) just to be an extra.”
When Alaniz began production of “Heavens to Betsy 2,” Richardson showed up to audition and, this time, got a small role.
“As a writer/director, I think any director tells you that sometimes you’d rather work with somebody who wants it really bad and has a passion for it than somebody who’s an egomaniac and thinks they already have it,’’ said Alaniz. “So Diane was eager and she was learning. She just got started (in acting), and her age and everything, I totally understand where she was coming from. It was worth giving her a shot. And she’s been great.
The movie starred actor Jim O’Heir of “Parks and Recreation” fame.
“I gave her a chance to work with Jim O’Heir,’’ Alaniz said. “She has one little scene with him, and in that one little scene, she held her own. She didn’t have any lines with him, but the one moment that the two of them connected and acted, you’d never be able to tell that she wasn’t a professional. So, I think on set, the more you do it, the more you learn, and she’s learning.’’
She went on to hire an acting coach, Jenn Gotzon, who has appeared in two Oscar-nominated films.
“She has one of the most beautiful, emotional ranges and quick access to her emotions as an actor,’’ Gotzon said. “And she takes direction beyond excellently, down to the nuanced moment, and those are qualities that make an actor soar. And I’m just a huge fan of her work and I pray that God opens up magnificent opportunities for her to perform.’’
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Diane Richardson was about to land her biggest role yet. She had trained with Gotzon, and used her own personal experience with her mother for a role as a woman with dementia in actor/director Dave Payton’s upcoming faith-based film, “Through the Eyes of Grace.”
“The role that she auditioned for, she fit absolutely perfectly,’’ said Payton.
But then the realities of the movie industry took over.
“But unfortunately,’’ said Payton, “that was the role that went to Victoria Jackson.”
Jackson, mostly known for her run on “Saturday Night Live” from 1986-92, had the name recognition and resume independent filmmakers desperately need.
“Victoria Jackson is a bigger name, and it’s a name that’s going to give us some credibility,’’ Payton said. “So Diane didn’t get the part she auditioned for, and I really felt bad about that, but I wrote another role for her. It’s not a big role, but she was very gracious and understood.”
Payton, too, was won over by a woman whose determination had no limits.
“This is how I got to know Diane,’’ he said. “We filmed a short, 2-minute trailer of the movie in order to bring in investors. She sent me an e-mail saying she was interested in auditioning and, at the time, I didn’t have any roles for women her age. But I said, ‘Sure, you can come and down and be an extra. We could definitely use extras.’ And she said, ‘OK, I’ll do that.’
“Then, as I got to know her, I really just appreciated her a lot. She’s a wonderful person. And I ended up writing a couple of lines for her. So, in the trailer, she does have a speaking scene, even though at the beginning I had absolutely nothing for her other than an extra. But her charm and her personality kind of led me to want to put her in more. So she played that role in the trailer, but she’ll play a different role in the movie. She has a lot of passion and energy, and that’s something every director is looking for.’’
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She has no idea where this leg of her journey will lead, but what Richardson does know is she is beyond thrilled she has the chance for others to see her joy and passion and love of life in her work as an actress, qualities at one point she was uncertain she’d ever have again.
“The whole direction has been unbelievable for me, so any little thing I get I do cartwheels over and get excited about,’’ she said. “You’ve got how many auditions where you get turned down, and you don’t think you’re going to go any further, but I persist and I work hard and so I know in my gut I’m just going to keep moving forward. To what capacity, I don’t know. I have no idea. But I feel like I’m going forward for great things, whatever that is, whether it’s film, TV, or whether it’s doing something to help people.
“I think the whole walk of my life has been, ‘That’s a God thing.’ Otherwise, how would I be here?”
Story idea? You can reach Mike Woods at 920-246-6321 or at: michael.t.woods1@charter.com
May 27 Editor's note: References were corrected to "Payton" and "Alaniz" throughout the story to reflect the correct spellings.