Brother of producer Everett Riskin
During WW2 he worked for the Office of War Information, heading the motion picture division of their overseas branch. He produced propaganda films promoting the American way of life to be shown in theaters liberated from the Nazi's.
Father (with Fay Wray of Victoria Riskin (b. 1948), Robert Riskin Jr., Susan Riskin (b. 1938, adopted by Riskin in 1942 after her birth father committed suicide).