Richard Nixon (1913 - 1994)

Richard Nixon 37th US President. A member of the Republican party, he served in that capacity from 1969 until August 1974, and is remembered as the only US President to resign in office to date, which occurred during the middle of his second term, amid the infamous Watergate scandal. Born into a Methodist family, his […]

Richard Owen (1810 - 1890)

First President of Purdue University (1872-1874), and State Geologist of Indiana succeeding his brother David Dale Owen. He was the first geologist to explore the northern shore of Lake Superior. He came to America to help his father and older brothers establish a utopian society in New Harmony, Indiana. The venture failed after just a […]

Richard Parkes Bonnington (1802 - 1828)

Artist and friend of Delacroix. (bio by: Kieran Smith)

Richard Porson (1759 - 1808)

The greatest Classical scholar of his age. Unfortunately also a heavy drinker, which precipitated his early death. (bio by: David Conway) Cause of death: Heart attack

Richard Pryor (1940 - 2005)

Richard Pryor Comedian. He is best remembered for his comedy routines that mixed profanity with social insight on racism in the United States, which were considered startling and radical when he first introduced it. Born in Peoria, Illinois, he would claim that he grew up in his grandmother’s brothel. Dropping out of high school, he […]

Richard Quine (1920 - 1989)

Born in Detroit,  Richard Quine’s father was an actor. Quine’s family moved to Los Angeles when he was six years old. As a child, he began working as a radio actor and became a minor radio star. He then appeared in vaudeville before moving on to stage roles. He made his film debut in the […]

Richard Ramirez (1960 - 2013)

Ramirez was born in El Paso, Texas, on either February 28, 1960 or February 29, 1960, the youngest of Julian and Mercedes Ramirez’s five children. His father, a Mexican national and former Juarez policeman who later became a laborer on the Santa Fe railroad, was a hard-working man prone to fits of anger that often […]

Richard Rust (1938 - 1994)

Rust’s mother died when he was five, and his father was an officer in the United States Navy. Therefore, Rust lived with an aunt in New York City, where he studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse at 340 East 54th Street in Manhattan. In 1957, Rust was chosen as a replacement in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey […]

Richard S. Castellano (1933 - 1988)

Actor. He gained fame playing ‘Peter Clemenza’ in the motion picture “The Godfather.” Although his weight was normally about 200 pounds, he specialized in playing overweight characters. He started off his acting career on the stage with the New Yiddish Theatre in New York, eventually moving on to the Off Broadway production of “A View […]

Richard Samuel Reynolds, Jr (1908 - 1980)

Businessman. President of the Reynolds Metals Co., (1948-1963) and was Chairman of the Board (1963- 1980). The company was originally founded by his father in 1928 and was grandnephew of the Reynolds who founded the tobacco company. He helped launch a Wall Street brokerage firm that went onto become part of Dean Witter Reynolds Inc. […]

Richard Sanders Barbee (1885 - 1965)

Actor. After receiving a Bachelor’s degree from Princeton, he moved to California and got a job with the Belasco Stock Acting Company. After a few years of training, he moved to New York, where he had a successful career performing on Broadway. He made his big screen debut in “Her Great Price” (1916), and appeared […]

Richard Sanders Barbee (1885 - 1965)

Actor. After receiving a Bachelor’s degree from Princeton, he moved to California and got a job with the Belasco Stock Acting Company. After a few years of training, he moved to New York, where he had a successful career performing on Broadway. He made his big screen debut in “Her Great Price” (1916), and appeared […]

Richard Schweiker (1926 - 2015)

In 1960, Richard Schweiker was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania’s 13th congressional district. At the time, the Montgomery County-based district included Schweiker’s home town of Norristown and several affluent suburban communities in the Philadelphia Main Line. A moderate to liberal Republican, he defeated conservative incumbent John Lafore in the Republican primary. […]

Richard Semler Barthelmess (1895 - 1963)

Actor. He was one of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Born in New York City, New York, his father died when he was an infant and his mother was a stage actress. Growing up, he did theater work as a “walk-on” which eventually led to performing in amateur stage […]

Richard T. Garrick (1878 - 1962)

Actor. Born Richard O’Brien in Portlaw, Ireland, he immigrated to America in 1882, enlisted in the US Army and served during the Philippine American War. After the war, he relocated to Los Angeles, became a member of the Rialto Star Feature Company and acted in silent films through the 1920s. In the 1930s, he was […]

Richard Todd (1919 - 2009)

Richard Todd was born as Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd in Dublin, Ireland. His father, Andrew William Palethorpe Todd, was an Irish physician and an international Irish rugby player who gained three caps for his country. Richard spent a few of his childhood years in India, where his father, a British officer, served as an army physician. Later […]

Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883)

Richard Wagner (/ˈvɑːɡnər/; German: [ˈʁiçaʁt ˈvaːɡnɐ]; 22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is primarily known for his operas (or, as some of his later works were later known, “music dramas”). Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each […]

Richard Warren Sears (1863 - 1914)

Businessman. He was the founder of Sears, Roebuck and Company, one of the the world’s most successful department store chains. While working as a train station agent in Minnesota, he accepted delivery of a shipment of watches that had been refused by the intended recipient. He was able to sell the watches quickly at a […]

Richard Wattis (1912 - 1975)

Richard Wattis was born in Wednesbury, Staffordshire. He attended King Edward’s School and Bromsgrove School, after which he worked for the electrical engineering firm William Sanders & Co (Wednesbury) Ltd. His uncle, William Preston (1874–1941), was the managing director and was the Conservative MP for Walsall from 1924 to 1929. After leaving the family business, Wattis […]

Richard Welch (1929 - 1975)

Richard Welch, who was born in Hartford, Connecticut, was recruited to the CIA in 1951 upon graduation from Harvard, where he studied classics. His first assignment as a case officer was in Athens working as a civilian employee of the U.S. Department of the Army (1952–59). From 1960-64, he served in Cyprus, and then in […]

Richard Widmark (1914 - 2008)

Widmark was born in Sunrise Township, Minnesota, the son of Ethel Mae (née Barr) and Carl Henry Widmark. His father was of Swedish descent and his mother of English and Scottish ancestry. Widmark grew up in Princeton, Illinois, and also lived in Henry, Illinois for a short time, moving frequently because of his father’s work […]

Richard Willard Armour (1906 - 1989)

Author, Poet.  Family links:  Parents:  Harry Willard Armour (1883 – 1943)  Sue Wheelock Armour (1880 – 1958)  Spouse:  Kathleen Fauntleroy Stevens Armour (1905 – 2007)* *Calculated relationship

Richard William “Ritchie” Barrett (1933 - 2006)

Producer and Songwriter.  As one of the first successful independent black producers and songwriters, he was also a creative force behind many groups of the ’50s and ’60s, including the Cleftones, the Flamingos, the Chantels, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers, the Isley Brothers and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. […]

Richard Wright (1908 - 1960)

Author.  His powerful,  eloquent work examined the injustices African-Americans face in a white society.  He won immediate fame for his first novel,  “Native Son” (1940).  It tells the story of Bigger Thomas,  a young chauffeur whose inarticulate rage over his lot ultimately erupts into violence.  “Native Son” was adapted into a play directed by Orson […]

Richard Zanuck (1934 - 2012)

Richard Zanuck married three times. On January 14, 1958, he married Lili Charlene Gentle (b. March 4, 1940), an actress from Birmingham, Alabama, and second cousin of Tallulah Bankhead. The marriage, which produced two daughters, Virginia and Janet, was dissolved in 1968. On October 26, 1969, Zanuck and his protégé, actress Linda Harrison, together with […]

Richie Ashburn (1927 - 1997)

Hall of Famer Major League Baseball Player. Richie Ashburn played Major League Baseball as an Outfielder for 15 seasons (1948 to 1962) with the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and New York Mets. He was a two-time National League batting champ with the Phillies. The ultimate singles hitter, he hit leadoff for 15 years, batting over […]

Richie Evans (1941 - 1985)

Richie Evans An American racing driver who won nine NASCAR National Modified Championships, including eight in a row from 1978 to 1985. The International Motorsports Hall of Fame lists this achievement as “one of the supreme accomplishments in motorsports”. Evans won virtually every major race for asphalt modifieds, most of them more than once, including […]

Richie Ginther (1930 - 1989)

Richie Ginther made his F1 debut at the 1960 Monaco Grand Prix driving for Ferrari who he stayed with through 1961. In the September 1960 Italian Grand Prix in Monza he placed second to Phil Hill. Ginther led from the start until the 25th lap when Hill passed him and led until the finish. Following the […]

Richie Havens (1941 - 2013)

Richie Havens Havens will best be remembered as the artist who opened the Woodstock music festival with a three hour set. At an early age, he began organizing his neighborhood friends into street corner doo-wop groups and was performing with The McCrea Gospel Singers at 16. At age 20, he moved to Greenwich Village where […]

Richmal Crompton (1890 - 1969)

Richmal Crompton was born in Bury, Lancashire, the second child of the Rev. Edward John Sewell Lamburn, a Classics master at Bury Grammar School and his wife Clara (née Crompton). Her brother, John Battersby Crompton Lamburn, also became a writer, remembered under the name John Lambourne for his fantasy novel The Kingdom That Was (1931) […]