Stalwart, granite-jawed Kane Richmond was gainfully employed as a States' Rights film booker when he was invited to appear in films. Richmond's first acting assignment was Universal's The Leather Pushers, a long-running series of boxing two-reelers.
Leather Pushers had made a major star out of Reginald Denny in the 1920s, but Richmond was not so lucky. He spent the first half of the 1930s playing bits in big studio films and heroes in basement-budgeted serials like Krellberg's The Lost Jungle (1935).
In the latter part of the decade, he co-starred with juvenile actor Frankie Darro in a series of peppy action films produced variously at Ambassador and Monogram. By the 1940s, Richmond was firmly established as a serial leading man at Republic -- one of the very few of that breed who could act as well as take punches.
Most fans of the chapter-play genre consider Richmond's dual role in Spy Smasher (1942) as his best work. Kane Richmond retired from films in 1948, then went on to make a fortune in the fashion business.
Birth Name: Fred Bowditch