Frank Richards (actor)

Frank Richards (September 15, 1909– April 15, 1992) was an American character actor, typically portraying a hoodlum or thug with a menacing appearance.

Richards was born in New York City and raised in Fall River, Massachusetts.[1]

Richards began acting in stock theater in Cape Cod while he worked 16 hours a day as a driver of a fruit truck. He continued his stock acting for eight years.[2] He acted on Broadway in The Wanhope Building (1947), Embezzled Heaven (1944), The World We Make (1939), and Brown Danube (1939).[3]

After serving in the military during World War II, Richards studied dialects, diction, and speech in New York, in addition to working in radio and television.[2]

He appeared in 150 films and televisions shows from 1940 into the mid 1980s. He appeared in a 1952 episode of Superman "The Night of Terror" and a 1953 episode of The Lone Ranger. His first stage appearance was in 1938 and his last film was John Cassavetes' A Woman Under the Influence in 1974.[4]

On April 15, 1992, Richards died in Las Vegas, Nevada.[1]