View source for Richard Greene

{{Short description|English film and TV actor (1918–1985)}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox person
|name         = Richard Greene
|image        = Richard Greene - Modern Screen, August 1938.jpg
|image_size   = 
|caption      = Greene in 1938.
|birth_name   = Richard Marius Joseph Greene
|birth_date   = {{birth date|1918|08|25|df=y}}
|birth_place  = [[Plymouth]], England
|death_date   = {{death date and age|1985|06|01|1918|08|25|df=y}}
|death_place  = [[Holt, Norfolk]], England
|occupation   = Actor
|years_active = 1933–1982
|spouse       = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Patricia Medina]]|1941|1951|end=div}}
* {{marriage|Beatriz Summers|1960|1980|end=div}}
}}
|children     = 1
}}
'''Richard Marius Joseph Greene'''<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite ODNB|id=57357|title=Greene, Richard Marius Joseph (1918–1985)}}</ref> (25 August 1918 – 1 June 1985)<ref>Some sources list his birth date as 1914</ref> was a noted English film and television actor. A [[matinée idol]] who appeared in more than 40 films, he was perhaps best known for the lead role in the long-running British TV series ''[[The Adventures of Robin Hood (series)|The Adventures of Robin Hood]]'', which ran for 143 episodes from 1955 to 1959.

==Early life==
Greene was born in [[Plymouth]], [[Devon]], England. He was raised Roman Catholic, attending [[Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School]] ([[Kensington]], London), which he left at 18. His aunt was actress [[Evie Greene]]. His father, Richard Abraham Greene and his mother, Kathleen Gerrard, were both actors with the Plymouth Repertory Theatre.<ref>Charles Kidd, ''Debrett Goes to Hollyhood'', (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986), pg. 129.</ref> He was the grandson of Richard Bentley Greene and a descendant of four generations of actors.{{cn|date=August 2022}}

It has been stated elsewhere that he was the grandson of the inventor [[William Friese-Greene]], (credited by some as the inventor of [[cinematography]]) but this was found to be false, as a result of two parallel lines of genealogical research, conducted by the [[British Film Institute]] and [[The Paul Pert Screen Collection|Paul Pert]] respectively, the latter being subsequently published in 2009.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Pert|first=Paul|url=https://www.paulpert.com/lens-hood-to-robin-hood!/|title=From Lens Hood to Robin Hood!|website=[[The Paul Pert Screen Collection]]|date=2009}}</ref>

==Career==
Greene started his stage career as a [[spear carrier]] in Shakespeare's ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'' at the Old Vic in 1933. A handsome young man, Greene added to his income by modelling shirts and hats. He appeared in a stage production of ''[[Journey's End]]'' and had a small role in ''[[Sing As We Go]]'' (1934). He joined the Jevan Brandon Repertory Company in 1936, appearing in ''Antony and Cleopatra''. He won accolades in the same year for his part in [[Terence Rattigan]]'s ''[[French Without Tears]]'', which brought him to the attention of MGM, [[Alexander Korda]] and [[Darryl F. Zanuck]], who all made offers for films.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205132933 |title=Richard Greene Makes His Bow |newspaper=[[The Age]] |issue=25,997 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=13 August 1938 |access-date=23 September 2017 |page=6 (THE AGE HOME SECTION) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> On 17 January 1938 Greene signed with Fox.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46282945 |title=FILM WORLD |newspaper=[[The West Australian]] |volume=54 |issue=16,363 |location=Western Australia |date=9 December 1938 |access-date=23 September 2017 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

===20th Century Fox===
At 20, he joined [[20th Century Fox]] as a rival to [[MGM]]'s [[Robert Taylor (American actor)|Robert Taylor]]. His first film for Fox was [[John Ford]]'s ''[[Four Men and a Prayer]]'' (1938). Greene was a huge success, especially with female film goers, who sent him mountains of fan mail which at its peak rivalled that of Fox star [[Tyrone Power]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article169104315 |title=RICHARD GREENE IS STARRED AFTER TWO YEARS' TRAINING |newspaper=[[Truth (Sydney newspaper)|Truth]] |issue=2613 |location=Sydney  |date=4 February 1940 |access-date=23 September 2017 |page=42 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

Greene co-starred with [[Sonia Henie]] in ''[[My Lucky Star (1938 film)|My Lucky Star]]'' (1938) and was reunited with Ford in ''[[Submarine Patrol]]'' (1939). Zanuck put him in ''[[Kentucky (film)|Kentucky]]'' (1938) with [[Loretta Young]] and [[Walter Brennan]].

Greene was the romantic male lead in the [[Shirley Temple]] vehicle ''[[The Little Princess (1939 film)|The Little Princess]]'' (1939) and was Sir Henry Baskerville in the 1939 [[Sherlock Holmes]] film ''[[The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939 film)|The Hound of the Baskervilles]]''. The film marked the first pairing of [[Basil Rathbone]] and [[Nigel Bruce]] as Sherlock Holmes and [[Dr. Watson]], but it was Greene who was top billed.

Greene had a supporting part in ''[[Stanley and Livingstone]]'' (1939) with [[Spencer Tracy]] and the lead in ''[[Here I Am a Stranger]]'' (1939). He co-starred with [[Alice Faye]] and [[Fred MacMurray]] in ''[[Little Old New York (1940 film)|Little Old New York]]'' (1940) and supported [[Vera Zorina]] in ''[[I Was an Adventuress]]'' (1940). He had failed to become a major star but he was still playing leads in "A" movies when World War II began.

===World War II===
Greene tried to enlist in the [[Seaforth Highlanders]] in Vancouver, but they would not give him a commission. He obtained a release from Fox and travelled to England where he enlisted in the [[27th Lancers]], where he distinguished himself.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52400736 |title=RICHARD GREENE ENLISTS |newspaper=[[The Examiner (Tasmania)|The Examiner]] |volume=XCIX |issue=265 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=18 January 1941 |access-date=23 September 2017 |page=8|edition=LATE NEWS |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=May 2019}} After three months, he went to the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]] and was commissioned and given the [[service number]] of 184251. He was promoted to captain in the 27th Lancers in May 1944.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}

He was given leave in 1942 to appear in the British [[propaganda film]]s ''[[Flying Fortress (film)|Flying Fortress]]'' (1942) for Warners and ''[[Unpublished Story]]'' (1942) with [[Valerie Hobson]]. In 1943, he appeared in the [[Anna Neagle]] thriller ''[[Yellow Canary (film)|Yellow Canary]]'' while on leave.<ref>James Parish and William Leonard, ''Hollywood Players'',(New York:  Arlington House Publishers, 1976), 270.</ref> He also appeared in a British comedy ''[[Don't Take It to Heart]]'' (1944).

He later toured in Shaw's ''[[Arms and the Man]]'', entertaining the troops. Greene was discharged in December 1944 and appeared in the stage play ''Desert Rats''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222143959 |title=English to the Backbone |newspaper=[[The Voice (Hobart)|The Voice]] |volume=24 |issue=7 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=17 February 1951 |access-date=23 September 2017 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

===Return to Hollywood===
After the war, Greene starred in a British musical, distributed by Warners, ''[[Gaiety George]]'' (1946), which was a flop. He returned to Hollywood, and appeared in Fox's big budget ''[[Forever Amber (film)|Forever Amber]]'' (1947), but in support of [[Cornel Wilde]]. He went to Universal to play the villain in ''[[The Fighting O'Flynn]]'' (1948) with [[Douglas Fairbanks Jr]]. At Fox he was third billed in ''[[The Fan (1949 film)|The Fan]]'' (1949), based on the play ''[[Lady Windermere's Fan]]''.

Greene returned to England to appear in ''[[That Dangerous Age]]'' (1949) and ''[[Now Barabbas]]'' (1949). He went back to Universal in Hollywood to play the hero in a [[Yvonne de Carlo]] eastern, ''[[The Desert Hawk (1950 film)|The Desert Hawk]]'' (1950).<ref>{{cite news |last=Brady |first= Thomas F |date=25 January 1950 |title=Metro Planning New War Picture|page = 20 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> Director de Cordova said Greene was "everything a man or woman could want in a desert hero."<ref>{{cite news |date= 15 August 1950|title=Movieland Briefs |page = A7 |newspaper= Los Angeles Times}}</ref>

In Britain he was in ''[[My Daughter Joy]]'' (1950), and ''[[Shadow of the Eagle (1950 film)|Shadow of the Eagle]]'' (1950). He went to Italy to make ''[[The Rival of the Empress]]'' (1951). In 1951, he divorced his wife, [[Patricia Medina]], whom he had married in 1941.

In Hollywood [[Edward Small]] asked him to play the male hero of ''[[Lorna Doone (1951 film)|Lorna Doone]]'' (1951). He stayed on to star in ''[[The Black Castle]]'' (1952) and support [[Peter Lawford]] in ''[[Rogue's March (film)|Rogue's March]]'' (1952). For Small he made ''[[The Bandits of Corsica]]'' (1953), then he was in another swashbuckler, ''[[Captain Scarlett]]'' (1953) shot in Mexico.

===''The Adventures of Robin Hood''===
[[File:The Adventures of Robin Hood, Vol. 1, No. 6.jpg|thumb|left|125px]]<!-- caption deliberately omitted due to label within image and limited size of this section -->
Greene returned to Britain looking for work. Reflecting on his career he said "I haven't had the big build-up part I expected. They turned me into a cloak-and-dagger merchant. After four dungeon pictures in a row I decided to throw it up."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article161627921 |title=RICHARD GREENE |newspaper=[[The Newcastle Sun]] |issue=11,123 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=14 January 1954 |access-date=23 September 2017 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

Greene got a role on stage in a production of ''[[I Capture the Castle]]'' with [[Virginia McKenna]]. Then Yeoman Films of Great Britain approached him for the lead role in the TV series ''[[The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series)|The Adventures of Robin Hood]]'' (1955–59). He was an immediate success in it. The series and a number of related marketing products bearing his likeness, such as comic books and "Robin Hood Shoes", solved his financial problems, with success both in the United Kingdom and the United States.

During the series' run he made the occasional film such as ''[[Contraband Spain]]'' (1955), ''[[Beyond the Curtain]]'' (1960), and ''[[Sword of Sherwood Forest]]'' (1960), as Robin Hood.

He had a long love affair in the 1950s with [[Harry Oakes#Personal life|Nancy Oakes]] (1925–2005),<ref name=Laskey/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,802952,00.html|title=Foreign News: Faith and Circumstance|newspaper=Time|date=September 6, 1943|access-date=September 19, 2025}}</ref> wealthy daughter of [[mining]] tycoon Sir [[Harry Oakes]], with whom he had a daughter Patricia Luisa Oakes (1951–2012),<ref name=Laskey>{{cite news|last1=Laskey|first1=Margaux|title=Lacy Garcia, Jack Roosevelt|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/fashion/weddings/19garcia.html|access-date=September 19, 2025|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 18, 2010}}</ref> wife of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr.#Personal life and death|Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr.]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Nancy Oakes von Hoyningen-Huene|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/nancy-oakes-von-hoyningen-huene-2jfg2cjbgdg|access-date=September 19, 2025|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=January 21, 2005}}</ref>

===TV and Fu Manchu===
Amongst other TV programmes, Greene was in ''A Man For Loving'', ''[[The Doctors (1969 TV series)|The Doctors]]'', ''[[The Morecambe & Wise Show (1968–1977)|The Morecambe and Wise Show]]'', ''[[Dixon of Dock Green]]'', ''Scarf Jack'', as corrupt businessman Neil Turvey in ''[[The Professionals (TV series)|The Professionals]]'' episode "Everest Was Also Conquered",<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0679303/fullcredits|title="The Professionals" Everest Was Also Conquered (TV Episode 1978) |website=IMDb.com}}</ref> and the ''[[Tales of the Unexpected (TV series)|Tales of the Unexpected]]'' episode "[[Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat]]".

Greene replaced [[Douglas Wilmer]] to play [[Sir Denis Nayland Smith]] in two of [[Harry Alan Towers]]'s [[Fu Manchu]] films, ''[[The Blood of Fu Manchu]]'' (1968) and ''[[The Castle of Fu Manchu]]'' (1969). Both films were directed by [[Jess Franco]] and shot in Spain.

==Later life and death==
[[File:Richard Greene Plaque Covent Garden.jpg|thumb|right|Memorial plaque in [[St Paul's, Covent Garden]].]]
In 1972 Greene was unwittingly embroiled in the ''[[Lewis v Averay]]'' court case, after a fraudster pretending to be Greene had purchased a vehicle.<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard Stone|title=The Modern Law of Contract|page=321|publisher=Routledge|edition=10|year=2013}}</ref>

Greene died in 1985 of [[cardiac arrest]] at his home at [[Kelling Hall]],<ref name="ODNB"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/richard-greene-centenary-of-birth-2495332|title=Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen|date=22 August 2018}}</ref> [[Norfolk]], England, aged 66. His daughter, Patricia, said he had never completely recovered from an injury sustained from a fall three years earlier. "He still had quite a fan club and was receiving letters requesting signed pictures", she said.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-06-02-me-15028-story.html|title=Richard Greene, TV's Robin Hood, Dies|work=Los Angeles Times|date=2 June 1985 }}</ref>

==Filmography==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
* ''[[Sing As We Go]]'' (1934) – Bit
* ''[[Four Men and a Prayer]]'' (1938) – Geoffrey Leigh
* ''[[My Lucky Star (1938 film)|My Lucky Star]]'' (1938) – Larry Taylor
* ''[[Submarine Patrol]]'' (1938) – Perry Townsend III
* ''[[Kentucky (film)|Kentucky]]'' (1938) – Jack Dillon
* ''[[The Little Princess (1939 film)|The Little Princess]]'' (1939) – Geoffrey Hamilton
* ''[[The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939 film)|The Hound of the Baskervilles]]'' (1939) – Sir Henry Baskerville
* ''[[Stanley and Livingstone]]'' (1939) – Gareth Tyce
* ''[[Here I Am a Stranger]]'' (1939) – David Paulding
* ''[[Little Old New York (1940 film)|Little Old New York]]'' (1940) – Robert Fulton
* ''[[I Was an Adventuress]]'' (1940) – Paul Vernay
* ''[[Flying Fortress (film)|Flying Fortress]]'' (1942) – James "Jim" Spence Jr.
* ''[[Unpublished Story]]'' (1942) – Bob Randall
* ''[[Yellow Canary (film)|Yellow Canary]]'' (1943) – Lieutenant Commander Jim Garrick
* ''[[Don't Take It to Heart]]'' (1944) – Peter Hayward
* ''[[Gaiety George]]'', also known as ''Showtime'' (1946) – George Howard
* ''[[Forever Amber (film)|Forever Amber]]'' (1947) – Lord Harry Almsbury
* ''[[The Fighting O'Flynn]]'' (1949) – Lord Philip Sedgemonth
* ''[[The Fan (1949 film)|The Fan]]'' (1949) – Lord Arthur Windermere
{{col-break}}
* ''[[That Dangerous Age]]'' or ''If This Be Sin'' (1949) – Michael Barcleigh
* ''[[Now Barabbas]]'' (1949) – Tufnell
* ''[[The Desert Hawk (1950 film)|The Desert Hawk]]'' (1950) – Omar aka The Desert Hawk
* ''[[My Daughter Joy]]'' (''Operation X'') (1950) – Larry
* ''[[Shadow of the Eagle (1950 film)|Shadow of the Eagle]]'' (1950) – Count Alexei Orloff
* ''[[The Rival of the Empress]]'' (1951) – Conte Alexei Orloff
* ''[[Lorna Doone (1951 film)|Lorna Doone]]'' (1951) – John Ridd
* ''[[The Black Castle]]'' (1952) – Sir Ronald Burton, alias Richard Beckett
* ''[[Rogue's March (film)|Rogue's March]]'' (1953) – Capt. Thomas Garron
* ''[[The Bandits of Corsica]]'' (1953) – Mario / Carlos
* ''[[Captain Scarlett]]'' (1953) – Capt. Carlos Scarlett
* ''[[Contraband Spain]]''  (1955) – Treasury Agent Lee Scott
* ''[[Beyond the Curtain]]'' (1960) – Capt. Jim Kyle
* ''[[Sword of Sherwood Forest]]'' (1960) – Robin Hood
* ''[[Island of the Lost]]'' (1968) – Josh MacRae
* ''[[The Blood of Fu Manchu]]'' (1968) – Sir Dennis Nayland-Smith
* ''[[The Castle of Fu Manchu]]'' (1969) – Sir Dennis Nayland-Smith
* ''[[Tales from the Crypt (film)|Tales from the Crypt]]'' (1972) – Ralph Jason (segment 4 "Wish You Were Here")
{{col-end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|338901}}
*[http://www.paulpert.com/lenshoodtorobinhood.htm  Paul Pert: "From Lens Hood to Robin Hood!"]
*[http://beta.wnyc.org/shows/fishko/2010/jun/25/  ''Fishko Files'', WNYC, 25 June 2010.]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greene, Richard}}
[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Plymouth, Devon]]
[[Category:20th-century English male actors]]
[[Category:20th Century Studios contract players]]
[[Category:27th Lancers officers]]
[[Category:English expatriate male actors in the United States]]
[[Category:English male film actors]]
[[Category:English male television actors]]
[[Category:English people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:English people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Seaforth Highlanders soldiers]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]
[[Category:Male actors from Plymouth, Devon]]