Viola Richard

Viola Richard (January 26, 1904 – December 28, 1973) was an American actress whose career spanned both film and stage work across several decades.

Richard established her screen presence during the 1920s through a five-year contract with the Hal Roach Studios, where she appeared alongside prominent comedy figures including Laurel and Hardy, Charley Chase, and Max Davidson. She departed from Roach in 1928, though she later returned to the studio in 1935, taking on small roles in an Our Gang short as well as the Laurel and Hardy production Tit for Tat. Her Broadway career included an appearance in 1934 in Geraniums in My Window.

Richard was married three times over the course of her life. Her first husband was Alexander Kempner, whom she married in 1928; that marriage ended in divorce in 1938. She wed Sydney Rusinow in 1942, but he died in a house fire in 1951. Her third marriage, to Lawrence McCafferty in 1953, lasted until her death. McCafferty survived her, dying in 1979.

Richard died on December 28, 1973, in Riverside, California. She is distinct from Viola Agnes Richard (1901–1955), who worked in the wardrobe department at 20th Century Fox Films.