Trivia

Served in the Army for four years during World War II and was stationed in Paris for part of his duty.

On the "South Pacific" CD, two tracks of Richard (as Ezio Pinza's understudy while using the stage name of Dickenson Eastham) can still be heard in the chorus of sailors, singing "Bloody Mary", and "There is nothing like a dame". Pinza, himself, however, is heard on the recording in "Some Enchanted Evening", "This Nearly Was Mine", and the rest of De Becque's role.

He was cremated after his private funeral service at Abbott and Hast Mortuary in Glendale, California. His urn is entombed inside his father and sister's columbarium at Oak Grove Cemetery in Saint Louis, Missouri without a marking. His surviving nephews and nieces transported it in a private plane from the Los Angeles International Airport to the Saint Louis Lambert International Airport.

He gave up his singing career to concentrate on a solid acting career at the urging of his wife. Still, he appeared occasionally in singing roles back East.