[1] She was born Shirley Ann Richards in Sydney, Australia, to an American father (d. 10 August 1928) and New Zealand mother, and was raised in the suburb of Mosman and educated at Ascham School, Edgecliff.

[2] Richards began acting on stage in amateur productions for the Sydney Players Club and worked as a receptionist at the photographic studio of Russell Roberts.

[3] This led to her casting as Cecil Kellaway's daughter in It Isn't Done (1937) for director Ken G. Hall at Cinesound Productions.

[4] Richards was a success with the public and critics, and Stuart F. Doyle, head of Cinesound, ordered Hall to put her under long-term contract so she would not be poached by a rival filmmaker such as F. W. Thring or Charles Chauvel.

[8] She was the female lead in another adventure saga for Hall, Lovers and Luggers (1937), playing opposite American import Lloyd Hughes.

[10] Her final Australian feature was Come Up Smiling (1939), supporting Will Mahoney and directed by William Freshman, though produced by Hall.

[2] Ken G. Hall had sent on some film featuring her to Carl Dudley, an American-based writer who had worked on the script for It Isn't Done and with whom Richards was to stay when he arrived, but he gave it to an aspiring producer who lost it.

"The studio respected my Australian credits and treated me like a star, but they cast me as 'Ann Richards', saying 'Shirley Ann, sounded too much like a Southern belle'".

[2] In April 1943 she was given the most prestigious role of her career: the female lead in An American Romance (1944), a big-budget production from director King Vidor starring Brian Donlevy.

[22] Richards said the breaking point came when MGM refused to loan her out for the part played by Laraine Day in Cecil B. de Mille's film The Story of Dr Wassell.

[29] In April 1944 Richards signed with RKO, who had been impressed by her None But the Lonely Heart test, to make two films a year.

However, he then changed his mind and chose to use Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten in the lead roles; Richards was given a supporting part.

[35] Wallis announced he would star Richards in an adaptation of the novel The Crying Sisters written by Ayn Rand and directed by Byron Haskin.

[40] In October 1946 Wallis announced Richards would make Paid in Full from a script by Robert Blees[41] but the film was never made.

[47] In April 1948 she told the Los Angeles Times she was determined to play younger parts as opposed to the more mature ones she had been doing.

[51][52] Angelo ran a successful consulting company and Richards and he raised three children together, Christopher, Mark, and Juliet.

[53] In October 1951 it was announced she would make a film with Angelo, The Slasher, then do a play directed by him, Personal Triumph by Arthur Alsburg.

[58] After her retirement, Richards ventured into painting and poetry, publishing several well-received volumes, including The Grieving Senses (1971) and Odyssey for Edmond (1991).

[67] Writer Tom Vallance said of Richards, "soft-spoken and sincere, she was at her best when conveying depths of wisdom, with a suggestion of passion stoically controlled.

"[15] Author Stephen Vagg argued she "had an appeal similar to that of the young Olivia de Havilland – she looked like a good girl, but there was always a twinkle in the eye; virginal but with the promise of a lively honeymoon.