Robert L. Richards

Robert L. Richards (March 1, 1909 - June 1984) was a film screenwriter. He attended Horace Mann School (high school) and graduated from Harvard in 1932. He worked for Time magazine and the March of Time radio program and newsreel for 7 years.

Richards worked on a number of notable films of the 1940s and 1950s including Winchester '73, Johnny Stool Pigeon, and Act of Violence. His radio work included writing for the Suspense series which aired on the CBS network from 1942 until 1962. Among Richards' numerous Suspense offerings was his critically acclaimed neogothic horror thriller entitled "The House in Cypress Canyon" broadcast on December 5, 1946. Considered one of the tautest, most chilling dramas in the Suspense canon, the now classic show featured Robert Taylor, Cathy Lewis, Hans Conried, and Howard Duff in starring roles.

Richards testified before the House Unamerican Activities Committee on September 20, 1951. He was asked about his membership in the Communist Party, and took the Fifth Amendment. His testimony was followed by that of Ann Roth Morgan Richards, his wife, who said she and Robert were married in 1949. She also took the Fifth Amendment.

According to Paul Buhle and Dave Wagner in their 2002 film history, Radical Hollywood, Richards was "named and abandoned" by his screenwriter ex-wife Sylvia Richards, and he "cheerfully told HUAC questioners that," while "he devoted his final pre-blacklist years to writing screenplays about stool pigeons," he refused to be one. They also report that "according to old friends," he thereafter "made a miserable living by brewing moonshine whiskey, but drank much of it himself."

Filmography Films

Television