Richard Martin began working in films as a receptionist at MGM in the late 1930s. He began appearing in films while under contract to RKO in the early 1940s. Martin created the character of "Chito Jose Gonzalez Bustamonte Rafferty", the Irish-Mexican comic sidekick of cowboy star Tim Holt, in the 1943 film Bombardier (1943). He played the character in a series of 29 films through the early 1950s. Martin married actress Elaine Riley, who co-starred with him in several films. He retired from the screen to work in the insurance business in the early 1950s.
