Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, he grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago (Winnetka, Illinois), where he went to New Trier High School. His family includes some familiar names from the movie and art world, sister, actress Penelope Milford (Coming Home for which she got an Oscar nomination, Heathers, The Burning Bed) and brother, Doug Milford, now COO (?CEO) and Co-owner of Artsystems Art Management Software (artsystems.com), co-owned and operated Piezo Electric in the East Village, owned and ran the Milford Gallery in SoHo, and as Publisher at ArtNet Worldwide, he designed, produced, and led the creation of Artnet.com.
The multi-talented Kim Milford was an actor-singer-songwriter-composer-dancer and first appeared in SummerStock Theatre in Chicago at age 10; at age 17 he was in the original staging of Hair (he played Woof and Claude). In 1976 he was awarded the Faith and Freedom Award by the Religious Heritage of America for his portrayal of the Prodigal Son in ABC Directories series "Round Trip". Kim later performed in the first concert tour of Jesus Christ Superstar playing Jesus and Judas, and in the first production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show as Rocky (Roxy Cast in Los Angeles, and in New York City on Broadway).
Kim also appeared in the plays Henry Sweet Henry, 1976, Your Own Thing, Rockabye Hamlet (1975-76, Laertes), More Than You Deserve, Sunset, and All Bets Off. Kim played in all the major clubs in New York City and Los Angeles with his own band and was lead singer in the Jeff Beck Group (Aug-Sept '72). He also worked on television in the movies Song of the Succubus (with Brooke Adams) and Rock-A-Die-Baby (aka Night of the Full Moon), both on 1975 on ABC's Wild World of Entertainment, and in which Kim performed his own music; and on TV in Mannix (Portrait in Blues), The Highwayman, and Sonny Spoon. Kim also starred in the feature films Laserblast, Bloodbrothers, Corvette Summer, Escape, Nightmare at Noon, and Wired to Kill.
According to an interview in the October 1974 issue of Viva magazine, Kim was recording an album titled "Chain Your Lovers to the Bedposts" and a single, "Help is on the Way, Rozea." Kim's known recordings include the single "Muddy River Water" (Decca), the Sunset soundtrack, Roxy Cast album of Rocky Horror Picture Show, and his song "Justice" on the 'Ciao! Manhattan' (Edie Sedgwick) movie. Kim also wrote the music for "Salome," based on the Oscar Wilde play, and starred in it at the Mark Taper Fo-rum in Los Angeles in 1979, and also wrote and performed "My Love Is A Rebel" on the soundtrack of Runnymede films' "Limbo" (starring Barry Bostwick). In addition, he's on some bootlegs of the Aug-Sept '72 Jeff Beck concerts. He also did one or possibly two albums with his group Moon; they were the band in the two TV movies above and was co-writer on several songs with Ron Dante, which include Lovin' Lady, Jo Anna, and She's Puttin' Me Through Changes.
In the 70s Kim was very close to his beloved dog, a shepherd-beagle mix whom he called "Hannibal". During the all-too-short run of Rocky Horror in New York, he was often observed doing gymnastics and exercising his pooch in the park near the West End Ave. apartment he sublet for what was supposed to be a minimum six-month run of ROCKY at the Belasco Theatre. The negative critical reaction in New York to what had been the Roxy's longest running musical ever came as a surprise to Kim and the entire cast, but everyone, Kim included, gave it their all, fine-tuning the show and turning in their very best work up until the final performance. Kim was a Christian Scientist, and was proud never to have missed a performance of Rocky Horror even when he was handicapped by a devastating tailbone injury that made locomotion excruciatingly painful.
Richard Kim Milford died in Chicago on June 16, 1988 of heart failure, after having undergone open-heart surgery several weeks earlier. He was only 37 years old. Kim is survived by his mother, brother, and two sisters.
Movies: Laserblast (1978) - Billy Duncan, Escape (1990) - Zoka, Wired to Kill (aka Booby Trap, 1986) - Rooster, Bloodbrothers (aka A Father's Love, 1978) - Butler, Nightmare at Noon (1990) - Albino's Henchman, Corvette Summer (aka The Hot One, 1978) - Wayne Lowry, Rock-A-Die, Baby (aka Night of the Full Moon) (1975 TV), Song of the Succubus (1975 TV)
Broadway: Henry Sweet Henry, 1967. Hair - Woof/Claude, 1968. 1776, . Your Own Thing - Sebastian, . More Than You Deserve - Wiley/Trout, 1974. Rocky Horror Show - Rocky (LA 1973), (NYC 1975). Rockabye Hamlet - Laertes, 1975-76.
Other theater: Jesus Christ Superstar - Jesus/Judas (original concert version), 1971. Salome, 1979. Sunset - Danger Dan, 1983.
Television: Round Trip - Prodigal Son, 1969. The Mod Squad, 1970. Mannix (Portrait in Blues), 1971. Sonny Spoon, . The Highwayman.
Additionl info: Possible album titled "Chain Your Lovers to the Bedposts" and single "Help is on the Way, Rozea.", single "Muddy River Water" (Decca) and Sunset soundtrack, Roxy Cast album of Rocky Horror Show, song "Justice" on the 'Ciao! Manhattan' (Edie Sedgewick) movie, Kim also wrote the music for "Salome," based on the Oscar Wilde play, and starred in it at the Mark Taper Fo-rum in Los Angeles in 1979, My Love Is A Rebel - (also wrote it) soundtrack of Runnymede films' "Limbo" (starring Barry Bostwick), "Lovin' Lady", "Jo Anna", and She's Puttin' Me Through Changes" Kim Milford/Ron Dante.