Richard Lester Liebman (born January 19, 1932) is an American retired film director, who spent the majority of his professional life in the United Kingdom. He is known for the fast-paced, flamboyant directing he brought to his comedy films, most notably the Beatles' vehicles A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965), and The Knack ...and How to Get It (1965).

Originally from Philadelphia, Lester began his career directing television, moving to the United Kingdom in the mid-1950s. He collaborated with Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan, on The Goon Show and The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film. After breaking into film directing through his Beatles collaborations, he helmed various productions including the superhero films Superman II (1980) and Superman III (1983), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), Petulia (1968), The Three Musketeers (1973) and its two sequels, as well as Robin and Marian (1976), and Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979).

A two-time BAFTA Award nominee, Lester is an Honourary Associate of London Film School and a BFI Fellow. According to the British Film Institute, "if any single director can encapsulate the popular image of Britain in the Swinging Sixties, then it is probably Richard Lester. With his use of flamboyant cinematic devices and liking for zany humour, he captured the vitality, and sometimes the triviality, of the period more vividly than any other director."

Richard Lester Liebman was born on January 19, 1932, to a Jewish family in Philadelphia. A child prodigy, he graduated from the William Penn Charter School, a Quaker school in Philadelphia, and began studies at the University of Pennsylvania at the age of 15, graduating with a degree in clinical psychology in 1951.

Lester started in television in 1950, working as a stage hand, floor manager, assistant director, and eventually a director in less than a year, because no one else was around who knew how to do the work.

Lester was the music director on Action in the Afternoon, an American western television series that aired live on CBS from February 2, 1953, to January 29, 1954. The series originated from the studios and back lot of CBS's WCAU-TV, which was then in Philadelphia; it was broadcast Monday through Friday regardless of the weather. The half-hour series aired variously at 3:30 pm or 4:00 pm, throughout its run.

In May 1955, after a period spent busking around continental Europe, Lester moved to London and began work as a director in television, working for the low-budget producers the Danziger Brothers on episodes of Mark Saber, a half-hour detective series.

He worked as a writer on Curtains for Harry (1955) and for a few weeks, The Barris Beat (1956).