Herd was raised in the 'south-end' of Boston and as a child suffered from Osteomyelitis from second grade to Sixth grade. Thanks to the miracle of penicillin he recovered and within a few years was totally healed. He started his acting career on stage while still in high school, and was one of a few chosen for a two-year apprenticeship-acting program with the Boston Summer Stock Theater. After numerous theatre, television and movie work in New York he got his break in the Academy Award nominated All the President's Men. His next roles included the Oscar nominated thriller "The China Syndrome," Golden Globe nominated "The Onion Field" with James Woods, and the Stallone film F.I.S.T. More recent films include Clint Eastwood's "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," "Sgt. Bilko" with Steve Martin, Carl Reiner's "Summer Rental," and in the last year he has starred in several features in the film festival circuit including "The Dog Days of Summer," with Will Patton, and "Checkers."
Well established in Theatre, Herd's credits include David Mamet's Duck Variations, in Denver and Tulsa in 2006 with Walter Koenig, the New York Productions of Electra, Harlequinade, 20 Poems, and e.e. Cummings. He is the winner of an Obie and a Vernon Rice Award for The Coach with the Six Insides, and was in the National Tours of Write Me a Murder, Hamlet, and Twelfth Night. His critically acclaimed roles are the World Premiere of Cecil B. Demille Presents…A One Man Show, and the West Coast Premiere of Other People's Money at famed Old Globe in San Diego, Ca. Herd also co-wrote Prisoner of the Crown which had its world premiere at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. He has also produced two off-Broadway plays.
Currently, Herd is making a name for himself with his poetry and art. He is the recipient of the Wilkins Award for poetry from the Santa Barbara Writer's Conference, and is published in ONTHEBUS and Mo+th. He just completed his first chapbook FEASTING WITH PANTHERS. His paintings are in private and corporate collections throughout North American and Worldwide. Locally he has shown at the NoHo Art Gallery in North Hollywood, The Studio Gallery in Oxnard, StuART Galley, Enfusion Gallery in Downtown L.A., and at the Finegood Art Gallery in West Hills.
Three years ago Herd became part of the "Enterprise Blues Band," created by Vaughn Armstrong (another Star Trek actor), with his fellow convention veterans and actors, Casey Biggs, Steve Rankin, and long-time Trek visual effects supervisor Ron B. Moore and actor and friend William Jones. Together they have recorded two CDs and are invited to play throughout the world.
Richard lives in Southern California with his wife Pat (who is also an actress and has made numerous appearances on television and in feature films). The family includes their cat Archie and dog Cisco.
