Richard Franklin Alpert is a fictional character played by Néstor Carbonell in the American ABC television series Lost.

Alpert is introduced in the third season, specifically in a flashback of the character Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell), where he claims to be a doctor for a bioscience company called Mittelos Bioscience; he is later revealed to be a member of a native island faction called the Others, where he plays a role in the group's hierarchy that has been compared to that of the Panchen Lama in Buddhism by the series' producers.

The nature of his agelessness and his true age is revealed in the season six episode "Ab Aeterno"; in the 1860s, Alpert was a prisoner on the Black Rock when it crashed on the Island.

Originally introduced as a guest star in the third-season episode "Not in Portland", Alpert reappears throughout the third season, both in flashbacks and present-day island events.

Nevertheless, the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike resulted in Cane being cancelled and allowed Carbonell to return for the final three episodes of the fourth season and several in the fifth.

In 1867, Richard Franklin Alpert was a Spaniard known as Ricardo who lived in the Canary Islands with his wife, Isabella, who was dying from tuberculosis.

He grew desperate and pleaded with the doctor, who wound up getting accidentally knocked back and hitting his head on the table, killing him instantly.

Richard, now a slave, was chained below the deck of the Black Rock, which got caught in a bad storm and shipwrecked on the Island, colliding with the four-toed statue of Tawaret in the process.

Still in chains below deck, Richard was visited by the Man in Black (Titus Welliver), the Smoke Monster in human form.

The Man in Black told Richard they are in Hell and he must kill Jacob (Mark Pellegrino), whom he referred to as the devil, in order to get his wife back.

Alpert is next seen in 1954, in the episode "Jughead", where he leads a group of Others who have recently killed a detachment of eighteen US soldiers who landed on the island with a hydrogen bomb.

The Others captured Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies), Miles Straume (Ken Leung) and Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader) in the jungle after their third skip through time to 1954, a result of the island having been moved in "There's No Place Like Home".

As Faraday worked, John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) walked into the camp, having followed a young Charles Widmore (younger, Tom Connolly; older, Alan Dale) to their location.

In 1973, in "The Man Behind the Curtain", Alpert encountered a young Benjamin Linus (younger, Sterling Beaumon; older, Michael Emerson) in the jungle.

Ben expressed a desire to run away from his father, a member of the scientific research group called the Dharma Initiative, and join the Others.

In 1974, Richard entered the Dharma Initiative's barracks in "LaFleur" and demanded the whereabouts of two members of his people, they having been killed and buried by Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell) and James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway) following Locke's successful attempt to stop the time skips.

Ellie was convinced Daniel was telling the truth, and Alpert joined her, Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), and later, Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) in retrieving the hydrogen bomb in "Follow the Leader".

As an adult in the early 1990s, Ben assisted Alpert in killing the members of the Dharma Initiative with poison gas in "The Man Behind the Curtain".

After Ben was taken into custody by Martin Keamy (Kevin Durand) and the mercenary team sent to the island by Charles Widmore, Alpert captured Kate and Sayid to enlist their aid in retrieving him in part 1 of "There's No Place Like Home".

Once Ben ventured to the Dharma station called the Orchid and moved the island, time began skipping for the survivors while Alpert and the Others remained in the present.

She opened the crate her people brought with her, revealing Locke's dead body; the man visiting Jacob was an impostor.

After that, Jack, Hurley and Richard headed for the beach camp, where they found Ilana, Sun, Ben, Miles and Frank (Jeff Fahey).

Hurley followed him, informing him his wife, Isabella, said Richard has to stop the Man in Black from leaving the island, or they "are all going to Hell".

Once the Ajira plane is made airworthy, Lapidus, Miles, Richard, Sawyer, Kate and Claire are seen to fly safely off of the Island by a dying Jack.

[9] While producing the final episodes of the third season, Carbonell was cast in a starring role on the new CBS series Cane.

[12] When Richard made his first appearance, Erin Martell of AOL's TV Squad was disappointed Carbonell did not use the accent he used in Suddenly Susan.

[14] Chris Carabott from IGN thought Richard featuring in Ben's flashback as a Hostile was "one of the more surprising revelations of "The Man Behind the Curtain" because Alpert doesn't seem to have aged a day in thirty-plus years".

Jay Glatfelter of The Huffington Post called him a "fan favorite" and speculated that although it is less plausible his appearance at Locke's birth is due to time travel, this seemed more believable than Richard not aging.

Carabott called it "The biggest and most welcome surprise" because "He's one of the most enigmatic characters on the series and his appearance in Locke's past is an exciting and shocking revelation.

"[17] Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune said "I get absurdly excited every time Richard Franklin Alpert (the wonderfully spooky Nestor Carbonell) arrives on the scene.