Born in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Richardson graduated in 1938 from the University of North Carolina and then traveled through Europe (1938-1939), returning to the University of North Carolina in 1940 for his Master of Arts From 1940 to 1942, he studied at the University of Iowa, where he wrote the play Barbara Allen (published in 1942), aka Night Song, inspired by the Scottish-English folk song, "The Ballad of Barbara Allen".
He served with the Army in 1943. They were unsuccessful in an effort to get Dark of the Moon on until an article about a Boston production of Dark of the Moon in the September 11, 1944 issue of Life attracted the attention of producers. With Richard Hart and Carol Stone heading the cast, Dark of the Moon opened on March 14, 1945 and ran for 318 performances.
In addition to two off-revivals, it became a perennial play with numerous college and high school productions in the decades that followed.
Richardson"s other plays include Design for a Stained Glass Window, about religious persecution, and Protective Custody, which had a short-lived 1956 New York production starring Faye Emerson.
