In 1980, she appeared in the supernatural horror film The Watcher in the Woods. Halloween became a widely influential film within the horror genre it was largely responsible for the popularization of slasher films in the 1980s and helped develop the slasher genre.

Richards portrayed Lindsey Wallace in the slasher film Halloween (1978) alongside Jamie Lee Curtis. Through the 1970s, Richards appeared on several television series, such as Flying High, Vega$, Fantasy Island, Time Express and Carter Country. The two sisters played on-screen sisters in the 1977 thriller film The Car.

Her sister, Kim, was also an actress, who appeared in one episode of Little House on the Prairie, the season before Kyle joined the cast.

She appeared in 18 episodes of NBC's Western historical drama television series Little House on the Prairie as Alicia Sanderson Edwards. Richards began her acting career in 1974, portraying Julia in the television series Police Woman. In 1987, she graduated from Central Union High School in El Centro, California. Richards' siblings are Kathy Hilton (born 1959), her older half-sister from her mother's first marriage to Lawrence Avanzino, and Kim Richards (born 1964), as well as three paternal half-siblings from her father's first marriage, all of whom were adults by the time Richards was born. The couple separated in 1972 and Kathleen later remarried twice more. She was named for Kyle Rote, a football player who played for the New York Giants. She is the daughter of Kathleen Mary Richards ( née Dugan 1938–2002) and Kenneth Edwin Richards (1917–1998). Richards was born on January 11, 1969, in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In 2017, she was a contestant on The New Celebrity Apprentice (also known as The Celebrity Apprentice 8), playing for the charity Children's Hospital Los Angeles. She began her career as a child actress, appearing in a recurring role on Little House on the Prairie, and in several adventure and horror films, including Tobe Hooper's Eaten Alive (1976), The Car (1977), and Walt Disney’s The Watcher in the Woods (1980), as well as portraying Lindsey Wallace in John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) and later Halloween Kills (2021) and its sequel, Halloween Ends (2022). Since 2010, she has appeared as a main cast member on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and as of 2022, is the last remaining original cast member on the show. Kyle Egan Richards Umansky ( née Richards born January 11, 1969) is an American actress, socialite, and television personality.

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