Dick Rich's film career extended from 1937 to 1957. Rich spent much of the early '40s as a 20th Century Fox contractee, playing such roles as the fatally impulsive Deputy Mapes in The Ox-Bow Incident. Later in the decade, he showed up in MGM's short-subject product, playing brutish bad guys in everything from the Crime Does Not Pay series to the Our Gang one-reelers. He retained his association with MGM into the 1950s, essaying small roles in such films as Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) and Jailhouse Rock (1957). Even after closing out his film career, Dick Rich remained active on television, making five appearances on the prime-time Western Gunsmoke.