Richard Emory

Richard Emory, born Emory Waldemar Johnson Jr. on January 27, 1919, in Santa Barbara, California, was an American actor whose career spanned stage, film, and television. He died on February 15, 1994, in Moab, Utah.

Emory was the eldest child of two Universal Pictures contract players: his father, Emory Johnson, was a Universal actor, and his mother, Ella Hall, was a Universal ingénue. The couple had married in a private ceremony in 1917 while both were under contract with the studio. Hall's last film before Emory's birth was Three Mounted Men, released on October 7, 1918. A brother, Alfred Barnard, followed on September 26, 1920, and a sister, Ellen Joanna, on April 18, 1923. In March 1926, Alfred, then five years old, was struck and killed by a truck while crossing a street in Hollywood; the vehicle narrowly missed Emory. A second sister, Diana Marie, was born on October 27, 1929. The family's domestic circumstances were complicated by prolonged legal disputes between his parents over alimony, child support, and visitation. His parents finalized their divorce in 1930, after which Ella Hall moved with her three children into her mother's home and took a position at the I. Magnin dress shop to support the family. In 1932, Emory Johnson Sr. filed for bankruptcy, reducing his support payments, a development that contributed to the children's estrangement from their father.

At approximately age ten, Emory had an uncredited role in the 1930 Universal production All Quiet on the Western Front, released on April 21, 1930. His mother appeared in the same film in an uncredited role as a nurse. Decades later, Emory recalled the experience in an interview published in The Encyclopedia of Feature Players of Hollywood, Volume 1, describing the realism of the trench location in Laguna and his small action of throwing a vase of flowers at a door, though he was uncertain whether the moment survived the final cut. He claimed to have begun acting more formally in 1938, at age eighteen, while still in high school, performing in a production of Judgment Day at the Santa Monica Players, where he played the character Nekludov, the Lieutenant of the guards.

His Broadway credit dates to 1935, when he appeared in The Green Pastures. Before his military enlistment, he also secured an uncredited part in the Paramount film I Wanted Wings, which featured Ray Milland, William Holden, and Veronica Lake; principal photography ran from August 26 to December 19, 1940, and the film was released on March 26, 1941.

Emory enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve on November 7, 1940. His draft registration card, filed at Selective Service Local Board 179 in North Hollywood on October 16, 1940, listed him as six feet tall, weighing one hundred sixty-two pounds, with blue eyes and blond hair. He served through the duration of World War II and was discharged on September 12, 1945, holding the rank of Private First Class and having served as a Quartermaster clerk.

Following his discharge, Emory built a career in film and television, gaining recognition in movies produced during the 1950s and 1960s and appearing as a supporting actor in various television productions. He retired from the entertainment industry in 1963 and spent the remainder of his life working in other occupations until his death in February 1994.