Richard Rust

In 1969, he appeared in the Roger Corman biker cult film Naked Angels. His last named role was in 1990 as Sheriff Blanchfield in the film Double Revenge about a bystander who goes on a rampage against a bank robber.

He won the Hank Tabor role on Sam Benedict (1962) over 60 competitors because of his acting experience and also his excellent educational background. He is in such "cult classics" as Underworld U. S. A.

His films in 1961 included William Castle's Homicidal, a thriller starring Glenn Corbett, and Underworld U.S.A., a study of revenge starring Cliff Robertson. He had the role of Oliver in the 1962 film Walk on the Wild Side with Barbara Stanwyck and Laurence Harvey.

He was interested in reading about mysticism and religion, painting in oils (he spent 1960 in Mexico, painting), sailing, swimming, listening to music, water skiing.

In 1959, Rust appeared in the episode "Well of Gold" of the NBC children's western series, Buckskin, starring Tom Nolan. He also appeared in several western television programs, including Black Saddle with Peter Breck, The Man from Blackhawk starring Robert Rockwell, The Rifleman starring Chuck Connors, Gunsmoke with James Arness, Tales of Wells Fargo starring Dale Robertson, Johnny Ringo with Don Durant, and Have Gun – Will Travel with Richard Boone. He twice guest starred on ABC/Warner Brothers series, Bourbon Street Beat with Andrew Duggan, and 77 Sunset Strip with Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. Rust guest starred on other ABC/WB programs too, including Sugarfoot with Will Hutchins, Bronco with Ty Hardin, Lawman with John Russell, and The Roaring 20s. Rust appeared on the syndicated series, The Brothers Brannagan with Stephen Dunne and Mark Roberts, and Rescue 8, with Jim Davis and Lang Jeffries. He guest starred too on James Franciscus's short-lived CBS series The Investigators.

In 1958, Rust signed a contract with Columbia Pictures, along with other young Hollywood aspirants Michael Callan and Yvonne Craig. He appeared in 1959 in The Legend of Tom Dooley, a Western film starring Michael Landon. Rust was cast in 1960 in the crime drama film, This Rebel Breed, about rival narcotics gangs in high schools. Also in 1960, he portrayed Dobie with Randolph Scott in the Western film Comanche Station.

Rust first acted professionally in a 1951 production of The Milky Way at Southbury Playhouse in Connecticut. In 1957, Rust was chosen as a replacement in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. His other Broadway credit was One by One (1964).

He was a replacement in the play "Long Day's Journey into Night" on Broadway in the late 1950s, with Fredric March and Florence Eldridge (March's wife) in the Helen Hayes Theatre. He was married to Dionne Van Hessen and had 3 children, Dorinda, Rachel and Richard. This marriage ended in divorce.

Richard Rust (July 13, 1938 – November 9, 1994) was an American actor of stage, television, and film born in Boston, probably best remembered for his role as a young lawyer in NBC's Sam Benedict series (1962-1963).

His mother died when he was five, his father was a naval officer, so he lived with his aunt. Studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, 340 East 54th Street.