From the Dawn of Man to Lennon's right hand man

Dan Richter has lived an amazing life. In 1966 he was a penniless mime in London, when he unexpectedly got a call from Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick hired Richter to portray Moonwatcher, the lead ape in the famous Dawn of Man sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Richter also choreographed the other ape actors in the sequence. A few years later Richter met John Lennon and eventually moved in with Lennon and Yoko Ono, living with them for several years and collaborating with them on various projects.

Richter has published a book about his experiences on the 2001 set entitled Moonwatcher's Memoir, but while he's also written a memoir about his days with Lennon and Ono, it has yet to find a publisher. How can that be? Everybody who ever crossed Lennon's path has published a memoir. His dentist published a memoir. (Surely you've heard of I Am the Walrus' Orthodontist?) Richter actually lived with Lennon for years, so how is it that he failed to find a publisher for his memoir? Even if he's a terrible storyteller, you'd think a publisher could hook him up with a decent writer for an "as told to"!

Here's a short excerpt from 2001 showing Richter and company monkeying around in the classic sequence where the apes first discover the monolith.




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