Richard Young

Richard Young (born December 17, 1955) is an American character actor, independent filmmaker, screenwriter, photographer and artist. Active from the early 1970s, he gained prominence starring in the opening sequence of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Other feature films appearances include: The Ice Pirates (1984), Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) and An Innocent Man (1989).

Early life Born in Kissimmee, Florida in 1955, Young grew up in a conservative environment on military bases. At twelve years old, his father bought him a Leica camera and taught him lighting basics which helped him become the main photographer for his high school's newspaper. At age 18, he worked as a longshoreman in Alaska before attending the University of Washington on a pre-dentistry program for two years. While at University he worked as a free-lance photographer for extra money until he quit pre-dentistry to head for California to try to make it as a cameraman.

Career In the early 1970s, Young found work with New World Pictures as crew for Roger Corman, however, the failure of an actor to appear resulted in Young starring in Night Call Nurses. While acting, he received offers to guest star on prime-time television and joined Beverly Hills Playhouse theatre group. Young found a variety of work from both film and television including appearing in Kung Fu with William Katt and Gary Busey, Flamingo Road with Morgan Fairchild, Knight Rider and the Cheers episode 'Love Thy Neighbor'. In 1979, Young and John Chesko, along with Brenda Venus, filmed American novelist Henry Miller, resulting in the film Dinner with Henry Miller. A short thirty minute cut was released by Brenda Venus in 1984, however, over 2 hours of footage exist that is owned and being produced by Young who has yet to formally release the finished film, one of Miller's final film appearances. 1989 Lords of the Deep as Chadwick 1989 An Innocent Man as Detective Danny Scalise 1990 Fatal Skies (TV) as Deputy Derwood 1991 Eye of the Widow as Malko Linge 1994 Murder, She Wrote (TV) as Nick Halsey 1996 Special Report: Journey to Mars (TV) as Astronaut Charles Downing 2000 Cleo Bachelor of the Year (TV) as Himself, Contestant