Richard Arnold
Richard Arnold was a Star Trek archivist and public relations figure for Paramount in the 1990's. Gail (who believed he was far more important in the hierarchy than he was, and was in fact a "big Hollywood executive") had extensive discussions with him over a series of letters, where the two talked very personally until Richard eventually became creeped out and stopped writing to her. Richard's awkward handling of Gail is considered one of the primary reasons Gail latched on to Brent Spiner. Part of Richard's job was to foster fanaticism in order to build the Star Trek fanbase, and due to his excessive niceness and inability to say no, Gail was left with an understandable impression that the celebrities she contacted at Paramount were interested in her life and being close with her.
In essence, Richard is just as much at fault for Gail's flavor of psychosis as David Schuler, Jack Chick and Melody Rondeau. Perhaps arguably, what makes Richard's part worse than the others is that he knew Brent personally and even told him about Gail. All of the excuses Gail made for Brent not being able to contact her came directly from Richard's own, who constantly assured her that he really liked her but was unable to respond to all of her mail promptly. Had Gail never received a response from Brent, it's very possible that Richard himself would have found himself the target of Gail's lifelong obsession (rather than just her temporary one).
Below are some, but not all, of the letters Gail received from Richard.
Letters
The first letter was Richard's most professional sounding.
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Gail immediately begins to talk about religion with Richard, who politely thanks her.
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Richard's next letter is a form letter, but he still makes the time to personalize a paragraph at the bottom for Gail.
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Gail sends Richard a picture of herself (much like she would later do with Brent) and for some reason, Richard feels obligated to return the gesture. He tells her that he would prefer to take personal photos for her instead of using the professional publicity stills he already has. He continues to apologize for not being able to get personal.
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Gail sends Richard what is believed to be a Jack Chick tract. Drifting dangerously into the flames of her insanity, Richard finally gives in and engages in religious discussion with Gail. It all goes downhill from here.
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Richard not only continues to enmesh himself into Gail's element by discussing religious topics, he now assures Gail how important she is, and that he answers fan letters because he truly cares, and not because it's his job or anything.
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Richard engages in more personal discussions with Gail, casually talking about the weather, and even sends her a picture of himself.
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Richard corrects Gail by telling her he is not a "Big Hollywood Executive". He contradicts himself by saying that he doesn't want to engage in controversial topics with her, despite already doing so, paradoxically stating "I wish to stay your friend and not get involved in your personal matters". He doesn't seem to realize that he had already crossed that line.
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Richard apologizes for having a job, and that otherwise he would be happy to write Gail. From now on he will willingly answer any of her business related fanmail regarding the actual show he's supposed to be representing, but that he won't have time to answer letters of a personal nature anymore.
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Richard refers to his previous letter in which he stated (despite at least 10 exchanged letters and personal photographs) that he and Gail are not pen pals. He tells her he is too busy, but then immediately follows up by saying that it bothers him to not answer letters and that it is the only reason he is writing her. After assuring her that he reads all of her letters despite not replying, he then goes on to engage in more personal discussion about her home life and says he will write again when he is not busy, telling her that "it is simply my being too busy that keeps me from writing to you, and nothing else". Essentially, he has given Gail implied permission to continue writing him, a promise of his personal attention in reading her letters, as well as guaranteeing that he will eventually reply out of guilt and give her what she wants, which he has already done for several letters.
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In the letter above -- the only current example of one of Gail's letters to Richard -- Gail had put together a form for him to fill out by checking "Yes" or "No" to a series of bizarre questions. Although Richard is beginning to get creeped out, and tells her that he is putting his foot down and drawing the line, he still not only replies to her weird letter but gives in and fills out the question form just as she wanted.
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Gail received a prank call to her house from a man that said "I want to rape you" -- this is the iconic prank call that would become the final stepping stone to her obsession with Brent. Before she pinned it on Brent, however, she was ready to connect it with Richard. She writes him to tell him about it, and Richard, as if none of this is his own fault, finally becomes creeped out enough to tell her that he will stop writing her.
Aftermath
While trying to determine who her mystery rape caller was, Gail decided to use graphology to analyze Richard and Brent's signatures, and, already convinced that it had to be one of the two, thought she could figure out which one by figuring out which of their personalities matched the kind of personality it would take to lewdly prank call her house. Gail determined that Richard's handwriting indicated that he was more than likely a bad person (this probably stemmed from her feelings of budding rejection by him and his refusal to send Brent all of her religious paraphernalia) and wrote to him about it. Although the actual letter is missing, in true Gail fashion she more than likely accused him in a thinly veiled way of calling her up and saying that he wanted to rape her. This resulted in a final rejection from Richard, leaving Gail heartbroken that she had lost her Hollywood friend. She talks about the emotional aftermath on her website.
Richard’s signature was what graphologists (handwriting analysts) call a thread. A thread indicates problems and evasiveness. Brent’s legible handwriting indicated a more honest and forthright person, and that he had energy and health. But I only had signatures and signatures only showed how the person presented themselves to the public and not the real person, so I still hadn’t a clue over who my mystery caller was. To analyze accurately the true persona you must see the handwriting of the person in their regular text (and I had neither of these from Richard or Brent). A signature only indicates how the person wants the world to see them. I wrote Richard and indicated I had received phone calls that seemed to originate from Paramount. Richard wrote me back to say he could no longer write me and that I wouldn’t hear from him anymore, that I apparently took his letters far too seriously. I decided I’d horribly offended him, and realized he could not be my mystery caller. I enjoyed my correspondence with him and realized that by bringing up these phone calls, I’d scared him off. Upset I lost my friend, I cried, just because I mentioned these mysterious phone calls to him.
My mystery caller called back right about this time (when I cried over the loss of my correspondence with Richard), and said in a calm, caring voice, “How are you?”
“Who’s this?” I said. Then he quietly hung up.
At this time, I felt lost, as if I drifted in a wide sea without a compass, and felt that somehow my new friendships with these forbidden Hollywood people would steer me in the direction of light and love. I felt I needed to explore forbidden vistas, that this would lead me on a journey to find myself. My letters of friendship to Richard and Brent were part of this exploration. So when Richard cut me off, I felt my journey had been extinguished, that I was doomed forever to meander in confusion and darkness. My mind and emotions withered into darkness and confusion.