RICHARD LONG BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
Richard Long was born on December 17th, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois into a family of six children total to Sherman Long who worked as a commercial artist and Dale McCord Long. Long went to elementary school in Evanston, Waller High School in Chicago, Evanston Township High School and then his family moved in 1944 before he graduated.
After relocating to Los Angeles, California where he completed his senior year at Hollywood High School, he fell into a career of acting. It all started as a senior, he took a drama class to fulfill a credit and caught the attention of a talent scout from Universal Pictures. As soon as he completed High School, he was ready to begin a career as an actor. His film debut was in, "Tomorrow is Forever" (1946). Richard followed this role with a number of juvenile leads in a variety of Universal Pictures films. He was cast in four out of nine Ma and Pa Kettle Pictures. He also worked on a film by Orson Welles, "The Stranger" (1946).
As his career progressed into the early and mid 50's, he moved into playing lead characters in films such as, "Cult of the Cobra" (1954) and "House on Haunted Hill" (1959) starring Vincent Price. With a highly successful film career already under way, he was also an even more well known television actor.
Some of the series he made appearances on were, "Bourbon Street Beat" (1959-1960), "Hey, Jeannie!", "The Twilight Zone", "77 Sunset Strip", "Wagon Train", "Climax!" and "The Life of Riley", and his most well known role was in the western series, "The Big Valley" (1965) starring alongside Barbara Stanwyck, Peter Breck, Lee Majors and Linda Evans. This series ran for a total of 112 episodes and as well as being an actor on the series, Long was responsible for directing some of the episodes too. He did a number of other television shows and his final appearances was in the television movie, "Death Cruise" (1974).
Richard Long married twice throughout his lifetime, first to Suzan Ball from April 11th, 1954 through August 5th, 1955 when she passed away from cancer at the young age of twenty one. His second wife was actress Mara Corday from 1957 through December 21st, 1974 when Long passed away from multiple heart attacks in Los Angeles, California at the age of 47. He was survived by his wife and three children, Carey, Gregory and Valerie. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea.
Filmography
1974 Death Cruise
1974 The Girl Who Came Gift-Wrapped
1972-1973 The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie
1973 Thicker Than Water
1970-1971 Nanny and the Professor
1971 Bonanza
1970 Love, American Style
1965-1969 The Big Valley
1965 Kraft Suspense Theatre
1964 Make Like a Thief
1964 Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
1962-1964 Twilight Zone
1958-1963 77 Sunset Strip
1963 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1963 Going My Way
1963 Follow the Boys
1962 Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1962 Outlaws
1962 Tales of Wells Fargo
1962 Thriller
1961 Target: The Corruptors
1960 Hawaiian Eye
1959-1960 Bourbon Street Beat
1958-1959 Maverick
1959 Lawman
1959 Sugarfoot
1959 Tokyo After Dark
1959 House on Haunted Hill
1958 The Millionaire
1958 Have Gun - Will Travel
1958 Wagon Train
1958 Alcoa Theatre
1958 The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen
1957 Suspicion
1956-1957 Matinee Theatre
1957 Schlitz Playhouse
1956 Hey, Jeannie!
1956 He Laughed Last
1955-1956 TV Reader's Digest
1956 Fury at Gunsight Pass
1954-1956 The United States Steel Hour
1955 Screen Directors Playhouse
1955 Climax!
1955 Cult of the Cobra
1954 Lux Video Theatre
1954 Playgirl
1954 Saskatchewan
1953 The All American
1953 All I Desire
1952 Back at the Front
1951 Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm
1951 Air Cadet
1950 Kansas Raiders
1950 Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town
1949 Criss Cross
1949 The Life of Riley
1949 Ma and Pa Kettle
1948 Tap Roots
1947 The Egg and I
1946 The Dark Mirror
1946 The Stranger
1946 Tomorrow Is Forever
