First seen in Bart the Genius, Richard is a gray haired student at Springfield Elementary School and is one of Bart's close friends. He is usually seen with Lewis and has a leather jacket. As one of the most minor characters in the show, Richard appears frequently in scenes involving the Springfield children, and in the early seasons was often involved with mischief.

In the early seasons he was commonly seen hanging out with Bart, Lewis and Milhouse, but in recent years he is only seen in the classroom and in crowd scenes. He had a brief speaking part in The Haw-Hawed Couple, His hair color changes from black to grey, to brown, and then to blue throughout the course of the show. However, in Simpsons Comics, his hair always appears gray.