Richard France (born Richard Zagami, May 5, 1936) is an American playwright, author, actor, and film and drama critic. He is a recognized authority on the stage work of American filmmaker Orson Welles. His publication, The Theatre of Orson Welles,[1] which received a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award in 1979,[2] has been called "a landmark study"[3] and has been translated into Japanese.[4] His 1990 companion volume, Orson Welles on Shakespeare[5] has been praised by Welles critics and biographers.[6]