Richard III (also known as The Life and Death of King Richard III) is a 1912 silent film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play, co-directed by French filmmaker André Calmettes and American playwright James Keane, and starring Frederick Warde as the title character.

[1] When the film was released in the U.S., actor Frederick Warde would often appear at screenings, giving a short lecture, and then reading extracts from the play during the changing of the reels, which were then called "acts".

A traveling actor, Warde discovered it was more economical to single-handedly tour with the film rather than perform the play with an entire theatrical company.

It was not until 1996 that a print was discovered, when William Buffum, former projectionist at the Bluebird Theatre in Portland, Oregon, donated his copy to the American Film Institute.

The AFI restored the print, transferring it from its nitrate film stock and retouching the hand tinting effect used in the original 1912 release.