Actor / Director Profile

Born June 15, 1918 in Norristown, Pennsylvania, second lead Richard Derr made his first film appearance at age 23 as one of many suspects in Charlie Chan in Rio (1941) after signing with 20th Century-Fox. A second Chan film role would come with Castle in the Desert (1942). With staid good looks, he failed to stand out among the war-era hopefuls. He appeared typically in WWII-themed "B" films such as Man at Large (1941), Commandos Strike at Dawn (1942) and Tonight We Raid Calais (1943). Following the war he played the "other man" opposite June Allyson and Van Johnson in the comedy The Bride Goes Wild (1948) and took a lead professional role in the sci-fi classic When Worlds Collide (1951). He moved into character work and spent the remainder of his career in atmospheric authoritarian roles on film and TV. He died in 1992 of pancreatic cancer.