Richard Whorf


Richard Whorf was an American actor, author, director, and designer.

Life and career

Whorf was born in Winthrop, Massachusetts to Harry and Sarah Whorf. His older brother was linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf. Whorf began his acting career on the Boston stage as a teenager, then moved to Broadway at age 21. He had a role in a production of Taming of the Shrew at the Globe Theatre in New York City. He moved to Hollywood and became a contract player in films of the 1930s and 1940s before becoming a director in 1944.
He played a famous painter who had resorted to drinking in the 1960 episode "The Illustrator" of The Rifleman, starring Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford. He directed a number of television programs in the 1950s and 1960s, including early episodes of Gunsmoke and The Beverly Hillbillies, and the entire second season of My Three Sons. He directed the short-lived series Border Patrol, and the 1964–1965 ABC sitcom Mickey, starring Mickey Rooney. In the summer of 1960, he guest-starred in one episode and directed other segments of the short-lived western series Tate.
Whorf directed the unsuccessful 1961 stage comedy Julia, Jake and Uncle Joe. His hobby was painting; he sold his first painting at the age of 15 for $100.
Whorf died at age 60 on December 14, 1966. His grave site is at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles.

Partial filmography

As director