Richard Kennedy Vosburgh (27 August 1929 – 18 April 2007) was an American-born Grammy and Tony-nominated comedy writer and lyricist, working chiefly in Britain.
He persuaded his father to let him study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London (where he met his future wife, Beryl Roques) and won the Comedy Acting prize.
He later appeared on one episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus as a bearded Russian spy who fights Lemming of the BDA, played by Eric Idle.
Throughout the 70s he was in the top tier of British comedy writers often partnering with Garry Chambers and Barry Cryer on material, working on the most popular shows of the time like The Two Ronnies, Morecambe and Wise and Who Do You Do?
pioneered a fast format of cutting between impressionists performing individual jokes against a neutral background which still feels modern today.
From the 70s onwards he wrote for many comedy television shows starring Ronnie Corbett, Ronnie Barker, David Frost, Roy Hudd, Bobby Davro, Frankie Howerd, Bob Monkhouse, Lenny Henry, Tommy Cooper, Freddie Starr and even visiting US stars such as Bob Hope and Joan Rivers.
He wrote three West End musicals: the pastiche A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine with composer Frank Lazarus (1979), Windy City (with Tony Macaulay, based on The Front Page, 1982) and A Saint She Ain't (with Denis King, 1999).
He also created the radio show of good songs from flop musicals Tunes the Backers Whistled While Jumping Off the Roof.