Richards rose to prominence during the 1960's advertising revolution, becoming a world-renowned photographer and television commercial director, with clients including Coca-Cola, Volkswagen, Polaroid, General Motors, Hertz, Pepsi, etc. His celebrated work has won every major industry award including many Clio's, Gold Medal Awards and the Cannes Lion for the best worldwide commercial and dozens of New York Art Directors Awards. In the New Yorker, Pauline Kael called him "a photographer who became a whiz at TV commercials [before directing movies]."

His illustrious film career started with his first movie, Culpepper Cattle Company at 20th Century-Fox, which became a cult classic and earned him the Screenwriter's Annual Story Award given by the Writer's Guild of America. He went on to direct the well-received Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins for Warner Brothers and Farewell, My Lovely for Embassy Pictures, which garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and received worldwide acclaim. His filmography also includes, March of Die for Colombia Pictures, Death Valley for Universal, Man, Woman and Child for Paramount Pictures, and Heat. Richards optioned, developed and produced Tootsie, which earned him an Academy Award Nomination and won him the Golden Globe for Best Picture.