Kim Richards

Kim Erica Richards is an American former child actress and television personality. Born on September 19, 1964, she gained early recognition as a performer in television and feature films. She is widely known for her roles in Disney films during the 1970s, as well as her later career as a main cast member on the reality television show The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

Richards was born in Mineola, New York, to Kathleen Mary Dugan and Kenneth Edwin Richards, who separated in 1972. She is of Welsh and Irish ancestry. Raised initially in Lloyd Harbor, New York, her family later relocated to Los Angeles. Richards has a younger sister, actress and television personality Kyle Richards, and a half-sister, socialite Kathy Hilton, from her mother's first marriage.

Her career began in infancy when she appeared in a television commercial for Firth Carpet. As a child actress, Richards starred as Prudence Everett in the television series Nanny and the Professor from 1970 to 1971. She achieved widespread prominence through her starring roles in Disney productions, portraying Tia Malone in Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) and its sequel Return from Witch Mountain (1977). Her other early Disney projects included No Deposit, No Return and two television movies in the Whiz Kid Capers series.

Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, Richards maintained a steady screen presence across film and television. She starred alongside her sister Kyle in the thriller film The Car (1977), appeared in the film Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), and re-teamed with Ike Eisenmann for the television movie Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978). On television, she held a starring role in the sitcom Hello, Larry from 1979 to 1980 and guest-starred on numerous shows, including Emergency!, Diff'rent Strokes, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, CHiPs, Magnum, P.I., and Little House on the Prairie. As an adult, she appeared in Meatballs Part II (1984) and Tuff Turf (1985), and co-produced the 1990 film Escape.

In the 2000s, Richards appeared in the drama Black Snake Moan (2006) and made a cameo in Race to Witch Mountain (2009). In 2010, she began appearing as a primary cast member on the reality television series The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alongside her sister Kyle. She was part of the principal cast for the show's first five seasons and subsequently made guest appearances in the sixth, seventh, ninth, tenth, and thirteenth seasons.

Richards has four children from her past marriages and relationships, as well as three grandchildren through her eldest daughter Brooke. She was married to supermarket-franchise heir Monty Brinson from 1985 to 1988, and to Gregg Davis from 1988 to 1991. She later dated commodities salesman John J. Collett, aircraft-parts supplier John Jackson, and businessman Wynn Katz, appearing with Katz on WE TV's Marriage Boot Camp in 2018. In April 2023, she appeared alongside her half-sister Kathy Hilton on Entertainment Tonight.