Born to restaurateur parents in Queens, New York, Richard DiLello's life took a dramatic turn when he witnessed the Beatles' historic performance on the Ed Sullivan show in February 1964.
Following his high school graduation, DiLello made his way to California, where he spent several years in and around Los Angeles and San Francisco, frequenting concerts and crossing paths with former Beatles press officer Derek Taylor, who was then working with various musical artists.
When the Beatles launched Apple Corps, Taylor returned to London, and he advised DiLello to look him up if he ever found himself in London.
In the summer of 1968, after a brief stint in Morocco, DiLello traveled to London and reconnected with Taylor, who promptly secured him a British work visa and hired him to work at the Beatles' press office.
As the "house hippie" (officially titled Client Liaison Officer) from 1968 to 1970, DiLello's responsibilities included promoting campaigns for the Beatles, Badfinger, and other artists featured on Apple Records.
During the winter of 1971, DiLello penned a memoir about his experiences at Apple, titled "The Longest Cocktail Party", which was later published in 1972.
DiLello began writing screenplays in 1975 and pursued this passion for five years, supplementing his income with photographic work. He managed to complete three or four screenplays, which led to a meeting with producer Robert Solo, who asked DiLello to write a script about a young James Cagney in a modern-day reform school.
The result was the 1983 crime-drama film "Bad Boys", starring Sean Penn, officially launching DiLello's career as a screenwriter.
He went on to write the screenplays for the 1986 television movie "Popeye Doyle", starring Ed O'Neill, and the 1988 police procedural action-crime film "Colors", which also starred Penn and Robert Duvall.
Furthermore, DiLello worked in television, writing and directing a segment of the 1997 television film "Riot", starring Luke Perry and Lucy Liu, as well as writing and producing episodes for the television shows "Midnight Caller", "DEA", and "Dellaventura".
