He acted in numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway productions and was a prolific player in regional theatres, co-founding Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater in 1963.
During World War II, he served in the Army Air Forces and was stationed in England, where he was introduced to the works of William Shakespeare and Noël Coward.
[2] After one semester, he decided to pursue the dramatic arts instead, and left Loyola to study at the Goodman Theatre's acting school.
[1] His Shakespearean background saw him often play characters with a clipped English accent, and he was sometimes mistaken to be British.
Richardson appeared in such films as Brubaker, Prince of the City, Prizzi's Honor, Tiger Warsaw, The Fly II, Q&A, The Exorcist III, Daniel and A Stranger Among Us and such television series as Law & Order and Hearts and Minds.