Todd, who had been suffering from cancer, died at his home near Grantham, Lincolnshire on 3 December 2009. He is survived by his daughter Fiona and two of his four sons, Jeremy and Andrew. He was buried between his two sons Seamus and Peter at St. Guthlac's Church in Little Ponton, Lincolnshire, England. The epitaph reads – Richard Andrew Palethorpe Todd, 1919–2009, husband of Virginia and Kitty, loving Father of Peter, Fiona, Andrew, Seamus and Jeremy, exit Dashing young Blade – a reference to the description made by the Queen Mother of the actor.