Biography

Richard was born in New York and moved to Los Angeles at the age of 11. He began acting in school plays, from elementary school all the way through junior college, after which he began writing and performing comedy celebrity voice bits for the Rick Dees In The Morning Show on Los Angeles radio station, 102.7 KIIS-FM. In 1985, he embarked on his other career as a cabaret singer. He has developed over the years, a repertoire of the popular American songs of the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s. He specializes in songs of the Tin Pan Alley era, including the Jazz-Age/Prohibition Era, and The Great Depression.

He is also the Emcee at the annual Dark Shadows Festivals, and a member of their Collinsport Players, a skit group devoted to creating comedic satires about the story-lines and characters of that popular 1960s TV soap opera. Richard is also an actor and voice-over artist, having appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and in many radio and TV commercials. He also has a successful job as the top Austin Powers impersonator/tribute artist in the United States, and probably the World. New Line Cinema, the Austin Powers film company has hired him to appear at the official studio party for the video/DVD release of "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" in 1999, and hired him again in 2002 to officially open "Austin Powers In Goldmember", at the Arclight Theatres/Cinerama Dome, in Hollywood. He continues to appear as Austin Powers at private and public events nationwide and world-wide, as well as continuing his acting career.
- IMDb mini biography by: richard@richardhalpern.info