I'm betting this issue will be clarified in the next few days.
There used to be a site jewhoo.com, a yahoo style search engine of famous jewish people. It's now a blog. But I recall back in the late 90s the entry on Richards changed several times based on the JewHoo reporters being able to, or not being able to confirm whether or not he really was Jewish. I've heard he had a Jewish mother but was raised in the Catholic faith.