Trivia

Directed one Oscar nominated performance: Sylvia Miles in Farewell, My Lovely (1975).

Before entering the film industry, Richards was a contributing photographer for Life magazine.

He found the script for 'Tootsie' and co-produced it with Sydney Pollack.

In one of his commercials for Liberty Medical, Wilford Brimley claimed that Richards was his "best friend and partner" and helped him to produce television commercials for the company to raise awareness of diabetes and provide diabetics with useful information. After Brimley's diabetes commercials became an internet meme, the phrase "my best friend and partner, Dick Richards" was often humorously edited into parody videos to jokingly suggest that the two had a romantic relationship.

When Sydney Levine worked for him as his "assistant" (read secretary) he received many postcards from women he met around the world. He loved shopping at Francis Orr Stationary Store.