Richard Ross Eyer (born May 6, 1945)^[1] is an American formerchild actor who worked during the 1950s and 1960s. He then became a teacher and taught atelementary schools inBishop, California until he retired in 2006. He is the older brother of Robert Eyer (1948-2005), another child actor of the period.^[2]

Eyer played a war orphan in "Homeward Borne", an episode ofPlayhouse 90, August 22, 1957, onCBS.^[3]

In 1956, he played a boy named Chuck inCanyon River which starred George Montgomery and Peter Graves. He had the starring role inThe Invisible Boy, producerNicholas Nayfack's independent sequel toMGM'sForbidden Planet.^[4]

InThe Desperate Hours (1955), Eyer playedFredric March's dangerously impulsive son.^[5] He also starred in the 1958 westernFort Dobbs, withClint Walker andVirginia Mayo andThe 7th Voyage of Sinbad in 1958, in which he portrayed the metallic-voiced Barani the Genie.^[5]

In a 1995 interview, Eyer credited his mother for the promotion of his acting career. "It was all her work that did it. I had curly hair, freckles, and people would say what a cute kid he was and all that; so my mother entered me in some children's personality contests, and I won one of these which had been held at theHollywood Bowl, and I guess that one was the springboard in getting me started. After that, I was hired for some television commercials and some modeling jobs, and this led into other things ... I was around fourteen when I didStagecoach West ... My last role was at age 21, appearing in an episode of [ABC's]Combat!"^[6]

He appeared in more than one hundred episodes of various television programs, includingRod Cameron'ssyndicatedCity Detective, when he was eight years of age. Other appearances includeArrest and Trial,Stoney Burke,Mr. Novak,Wagon Train,Wanted: Dead or Alive,Father Knows Best,Gunsmoke,Lassie,Rawhide andGeneral Electric Theater.^[4]

Eyer isdivorced. He is the father of Samantha Rae Eyer, and twin sons, Benjamin Adam Eyer and Andrew Z. Eyer.^[4]

• Goldrup, Tom and Jim (2002).Growing Up on the Set: Interviews with 39 Former Child Actors of Film and Television. McFarland & Co. pp. 76–82.ISBN 1476613702.
• Holmstrom, John (1996).The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995. Norwich: Michael Russell, p. 253.

• Richard Eyer atIMDb

• Living people
• 1945 births
• 20th-century American male actors
• American male child actors
• American male television actors
• American male film actors
• Male actors from Santa Monica, California
• People from Bishop, California

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