Richard Fleischer was born on December 8, 1916 to a Jewish family in Brooklyn; his father, animator-producer Max Fleischer, was a native of Kraków, Poland.
After graduating from Brown University, he went to Yale School of Drama, where he met his future wife, Mary Dickson.
His film career began in 1942 at RKO studio, directing shorts, documentaries, and compilations of forgotten silent features, which he called “Flicker Flashbacks.”
He won an Oscar Award as producer of the 1947 documentary, “Design for Death,” co-written by Theodor Geisel (later known as Dr. Seuss), which examined the cultural forces that led to Japan’s imperial expansion through World War II.
In a career spanning over four decades, Fleischer directed about 50 features, the first of which was Child of Divorce (1946) and the last Million Dollar Mystery (1987).
Filmography
This Is America (1943) (Short documentary series)
Flicker Flashbacks (1943) (Series of shorts)
Memo for Joe (1944)
1940s (9 films)
Child of Divorce (1946)
Design for Death (1947)
Banjo (1947)
Bodyguard (1948)
So This Is New York (1948)
Trapped (1949)
Make Mine Laughs (1949)
Follow Me Quietly (1949)
The Clay Pigeon (1949)
1950s (12)
Armored Car Robbery (1950)
His Kind of Woman (1951) (John Farrow credited)
The Narrow Margin (1952)
The Happy Time (1952)
Arena (1953)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
Violent Saturday (1955)
The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955)
Bandido (1956)
Between Heaven and Hell (1956)
The Vikings (1958)
These Thousand Hills (1959)
Compulsion (1959)
1960s (8)
Crack in the Mirror (1960)
The Big Gamble (1961)
Barabbas (1961)
Fantastic Voyage (1966)
Doctor Dolittle (1967)
Think 20th (1967)
The Boston Strangler (1968)
Che! (1969)
1970s (13)
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
See No Evil (1971) (a.k.a. Blind Terror)
The Last Run (1971)
10 Rillington Place (1971)
The New Centurions (1972)
Soylent Green (1973)
The Don Is Dead (1973)
Mr. Majestyk (1974)
The Spikes Gang (1974)
Mandingo (1975)
The Incredible Sarah (1976)
Crossed Swords (1977) (a.k.a. The Prince and the Pauper)
Ashanti (1979)
1980s (6)
The Jazz Singer (1980) (co-director: Sidney J. Furie)
Tough Enough (1982)
Amityville 3-D (1983)
Conan the Destroyer (1984)
Red Sonja (1985)
Million Dollar Mystery (1987)
Call from Space (1989) (Short)
The Betty Boop Movie Mystery (1989) (Fleischer credited as “creative consultant”)