Actor. Born Richard Charles Venturella on November 11, 1923 of parents of Irish-Italian ancestry. As an adult, Venturella served in the U.S. Navy during WWII, aboard aircraft carriers in the South Pacific: the USS Cabot, the USS Monterey and the USS Enterprise. After the service, he married Grayce Grant, the two pursuing acting careers while raising a new family. He would soon change his name from Venturella to the stage name 'Richard Venture', and appeared in numerous stage productions, like "Dinosaur Wharf", and "The Merchant of Venice" in the early 1950s, before entering television work in the early days of the medium in New York. He made his big screen debut in the 1965 horror film, "Dark Intruder", starring Leslie Nielsen. While still nurturing his career on stage, by the early 1970s he became a sought after character actor in Hollywood, soon appearing in countless TV and film appearances. Venture secured work as recurring character 'Mr. Billingsley' in Norman Lear's quirky TV series "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman". Other memorable performances came on TVs "Barney Miller", "The Rockford Files" and "Kojak", among others. On film, he appeared in 1977's "The Greatest", "The Onion Field" (1979), and critical notice as troubled cop 'Det. Spota' in Steve McQueen's last screen effort, "The Hunter" (1980). In the next two decades, Venture built a fine career as journeyman actor in countless screen roles, while still choosing choice challenges in stage productions. By 1971, Venture divorced wife Grayce Grant, and remarried to actress Olivia Cole, raising some eyebrows with their interracial union. When that marriage ended in 1984, he remarried again, to Lorraine Marie Donnell. But within a decade, by 1995 their marriage ended. In the mid 1990s, Venture enjoyed more screen work, even another recurring role, this time as 'Douglas Greer' on TV's "Law & Order". By 2000, Venture all but retired from the screen. Venture has a career distinction of appearing in three films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: "All the President's Men" (1976), "Missing" (1982) and "Scent of a Woman" (1992). In the ensuing years, his health became a struggle, and surrounded by his loving family, succumbed on December 19, 2017, just a month after his 94th birthday.