Trivia

His father's animation studios was one of the biggest competitors to Walt Disney's studio. Ironically, Disney ended up hiring Richard to direct this feature, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954).

At his LA mansion, had a pool in the shape of Mickey Mouse's head.

Replaced other directors on at least five pictures: His Kind of Woman (John Farrow), The Last Run (John Huston), Mandingo (Michael Campus), Ashanti (Richard C. Sarafian), and The Jazz Singer (Sidney J. Furie). He earned a reputation as a reliable "ringer" and a journeyman.

Son of animator Max Fleischer.

Fleischer was born into a showbusiness family, but harboured ambitions of becoming a psychiatrist. He abandoned medical studies, however, in favour of a drama course at Yale University. At Yale, he established the Arena Players theatre group, acting as producer and director for all of their staged plays.

He directed feature films from 1946, under contract first with RKO (to 1951), followed by spells at 20th Century Fox (1955-61 and 1966-69) and Columbia (1971-72), free-lancing in between. He was best known for economically made suspense thrillers and tough crime dramas. His own personal favorite was The Narrow Margin (1952), shot on a budget of $230,000 within just 13 days. Other hits were dramatisations of real-life murder cases: Compulsion (1959), The Boston Strangler (1968) and 10 Rillington Place (1971). He did considerably less well in other genres, particularly after the mid-1960's, when the law of diminishing return applied to an ever increasing number of duds, including Doctor Dolittle (1967), Che! (1969), The Jazz Singer (1980) and Red Sonja (1985).

The filming of Soylent Green (1973), which he directed, was suspended for a week because of the death of his father Max Fleischer.

Joined RKO in 1940, and for the next three years, co-wrote and edited the Pathe newsreel series "This Is America". He followed this with "Flicker Flashbacks", a series of silent film compilations, which he also produced.

Enjoyed playing the game tiddlywinks with his granddaughter Vivian.

Directed Rex Harrison in three feature films.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945." Pages 345-351. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.

Nephew of Dave Fleischer.

Father of Bruce Fleischer

Father of Mark Fleischer.

Brother of Ruth Fleischer.

Brother-in-law of Seymour Kneitel.

Father of Jane Fleischer Reid.

Grandsons, Nick (b. 1985) and Skyler (b. 1987). Granddaughters, Vivian (b. 1993), Claire (b. 1990) and Helen (b. 1996).

Died the same age as his father, 89.

Grandfather of Claire Fleischer.

Los Angeles, California. (2004)