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| Dr. Renée Richards in Renée. |
Out of bounds
Born in 1934, Richard Raskind grew up with a domineering mother, patient father and protective older sister in New York. Following in his parent's footsteps, he went on to become a doctor, in his case, of ophthalmology. As a child and young man, Raskind excelled at sports, especially tennis and baseball -- he was even scouted by the New York Yankees.
After establishing himself in the medical and tennis world in New York, Raskind married and fathered a son, Nicholas. Shortly thereafter, he had a sex change operation, abandoned his family and friends and moved out to California -- as a woman. Fittingly choosing the name Renée (French for reborn), Dr. Richard Raskind became Dr. Renée Richards, continuing with her medical profession and passion for tennis.
Director Eric Drath's documentary examines Richard's remarkable story, how as a woman she fled New York to try and find herself in Californian anonymity, but instead found controversy and notoriety as a transsexual vanguard when she entered the world of women's professional tennis. Consisting of archival footage, plus interviews with Renée's friends, tennis players, sports commentators, former girlfriends and her unhappy son, the documentary, for the most part, pays loving homage to a truly remarkable human.
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