website years_active birth_place birth_date spouse article_title name occupation
-lsb- http://www.williamrichert.com williamrichert.com -rsb- 1961-present florida , united states 1942 gretchen richert william richert
 william richert film , author director , film producer , screenwriter , actor
william richert

william richert -lrb- born in 1942 in florida -rrb- is an american film director , film producer , screenwriter and actor .
he is best known for his performance as bob in the 1991 gus van sant film `` my own private idaho '' .
at age 17 , he hopped a bus to hollywood .
at the age of 19 , he interviewed richard nixon 's daughters tricia and julie , as part of a planned documentary titled `` presidents ' daughters '' .
he directed several other documentaries -lrb- including `` derby '' , and a dancer 's life -rrb- and the feature films `` winter kills '' , `` the american success company '' , `` a night in the life of jimmy reardon '' , and `` the man in the iron mask '' -lrb- also known as `` the mask of dumas '' -rrb- .
`` reardon '' was originally distributed by 20th century fox , and has since been re-cut and re-issued independently as `` are n't you even going to kiss me goodbye ? ''
richert sued the writers guild of america over not being credited on the screenplay of the film `` the american president '' .
richert claimed sorkin 's screenplay was a thinly-veiled plagiarism of richert 's 1981 ` the president elopes ' , and that the television series the west wing was derived from part of the same screenplay .
after guild arbitration , aaron sorkin was awarded full credit on `` american president '' .
richert also sued the directors guild of america over its collection of overseas levies for american directors who are not members .
he currently resides in santa monica , california , where he is developing a new mob drama , ` the vindicator ' .
