Richard O'Brien

O'Brien was born Richard Timothy Smith in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. He emigrated with his family to Tauranga, New Zealand, at the age of 10, where his accountant father had purchased a sheep farm. He went to Tauranga Boys' College. It is known also that O'Brien attended Fairfield School in Hamilton, New Zealand in 1952.{{cite web | url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/waikato-news/news/rocky-horror-show-legend-honoured-with-hamilton-kirikiriroa-medal/D4YSKBHIJ7NMW6CBYTXA7ZKUUI/ | title=Rocky Horror Show icon does time warp to recall memories of Hamilton }} O'Brien worked as a barber at a barbershop in front of Hamilton's Embassy Theatre. It was at this theatre where O'Brien attended many late-night picture shows and had the idea for The Rocky Horror Picture Show.{{cite web | url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/waikato-news/news/rocky-horror-show-legend-honoured-with-hamilton-kirikiriroa-medal/D4YSKBHIJ7NMW6CBYTXA7ZKUUI/ | title=Rocky Horror Show icon does time warp to recall memories of Hamilton }} He returned to England in 1964, after having learned how to ride horses (a skill which provided him with his break into the film industry as a stuntman in Carry On Cowboy){{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/nov/05/richard-obrien-interview-rocky-horror-trans-crack-stroke-70s |title=Rocky Horror's Richard O'Brien: I should be dead. I've had an excessive lifestyle |author=Gilbey, Ryan|date=5 November 2020|website=The Guardian }} and developing a keen interest in comic books and horror films. He launched his acting career using his mother's maiden name, O'Brien{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} as there was already an actor named Richard Smith.

He says that his upbringing in New Zealand "instilled him with egalitarian ideals that helped him transcend British class restrictions".{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11814401 |title=From Rocky Horror to Katikati - Richard O'Brien speaks |date=14 March 2017 |via=www.nzherald.co.nz |newspaper=The New Zealand Herald |access-date=17 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017201933/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11814401 |archive-date=17 October 2017 |url-status=live }}

To improve his acting skills, O'Brien took method acting classes, and then joined several stage productions as an actor. In 1970, he went into the touring production of Hair for nine months, and spent another nine months in the London production.{{cite web |url=http://www.rockyhorror.com/history/castcrewlist_obrien.php |title=Richard O'Brien |access-date=10 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311042104/http://www.rockyhorror.com/history/castcrewlist_obrien.php |archive-date=11 March 2016 |url-status=live }} In the summer of 1972, he met director Jim Sharman who cast him as an Apostle and Leper in the London production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Sharman then cast O'Brien as Willie, the alien in his March 1973 production of Sam Shepard's The Unseen Hand at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs.{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xZ-8rdzvABgC&q=o%27brien+the+unseen+hand&pg=PA87 |title=Sam Shepard |author=Shewey, Don |page=87 |date=1997 |publisher=Da Capo |access-date=10 March 2016 |isbn=9780306807701}}

Sharman also helped make O'Brien's draft of a gothic-themed, schlock-horror comic-book fantasy romp into a reality. Sharman suggested changing the working title from They Came from Denton High, and The Rocky Horror Show opened at the Theatre Upstairs in June 1973.{{cite book |author=Harding, James |date=1987 |title=The Rocky Horror Show Book |publisher=Sidgwick & Jackson |pages=22–23}} Within weeks it had become a box-office hit, moving from the Royal Court to the Classic Cinema, a cinema up for demolition on the King's Road, then to the King's Road Theatre (formerly a cinema known as the Essoldo{{Cite web|last=Dave|first=Walker|title=A King's Road Classic|url=https://rbkclocalstudies.wordpress.com/2018/03/15/a-kings-road-classic/|website=The Library Time Machine|date=15 March 2018 }}) and eventually into the West End at the Comedy Theatre.

After seeing the second night's performance of The Rocky Horror Show in the Theatre Upstairs, Jonathan King produced the original cast soundtrack in just over 48 hours during an off-stage weekend, and rushed it out on his UK Records label. He also became a 20% backer with producer Michael White, who put up the remaining 80%.{{cite news |title=Jonathan King: 'The only apology I have is to say that I was good at seduction' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/jonathan-king-the-only-apology-i-have-is-to-say-that-i-was-good-at-seduction-7658249.html |newspaper=The Independent on Sunday |location=London, UK |date=22 April 2012 |author=Chalmers, Robert |access-date=3 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171204063106/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/jonathan-king-the-only-apology-i-have-is-to-say-that-i-was-good-at-seduction-7658249.html |archive-date=4 December 2017 |url-status=live }}

During this period, O'Brien and his wife Kimi Wong recorded and released pop singles under the name Kimi and Ritz.{{citation |author=O'Bonzo, Andrew |title=A Talk with Richard O'Brien's music publisher, Andy Leighton |publisher=Crazed Imaginations |number=57 |date=May 2000 |pages=12–15}}

O'Brien continued writing musicals with arranger Richard Hartley, including: T. Zee (1976), Disaster (1978), The Stripper (1982 – based on the Carter Brown novel and produced in Australia), and Top People (1984). O'Brien and Hartley also provided three songs for the film The Return of Captain Invincible (1983), starring Alan Arkin. O'Brien wrote his one-man revue Disgracefully Yours (1985) singing as Mephistopheles Smith.

O'Brien has appeared in Jubilee (1977), Flash Gordon (1980), Dark City (1998), Ever After (1998) and Dungeons & Dragons (2000), among others. Additionally he guest starred in five episodes in the third series of the HTV dramatisation of Robin of Sherwood, as the corrupt druid Gulnar. A music CD of the songs from Disgracefully Yours entitled Absolute O'Brien was released in 1998.{{cite web|url=http://www.rockymusic.org/album/absolute-obrien.php|title=Absolute O'Brien CD by Richard O'Brien (1999)|access-date=10 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318021452/http://www.rockymusic.org/album/absolute-obrien.php|archive-date=18 March 2016|url-status=live}}

O'Brien became the presenter of UK Channel 4's game show The Crystal Maze in 1990,{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/playwrights/richard-o-brien|title=Richard O'Brien interview: 'There's a lot of male in me – and a lot of girl as well'|author=Stadlin, Matthew|newspaper=The Telegraph |date=14 September 2015|access-date=10 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405164911/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/playwrights/richard-o-brien/|archive-date=5 April 2016|url-status=live}} specialising in sardonic put-downs, occasional eccentricities and playing his harmonica at random intervals. The show ran from 1990 to 1995, with O'Brien presenting the first four series. It was regularly Channel 4's highest-rated programme, reaching a peak of 7 million viewers for the 1993 Christmas special. O'Brien left The Crystal Maze in 1993 after the fourth series; the show was then taken over by Edward Tudor-Pole.

In other roles, O'Brien has conceptualised and played the role of the Child Catcher in the West End theatre production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He also occasionally performs cabaret-style music and comedy on stages around the world, singing songs from Rocky Horror among others. In 1995, he performed a select number of shows as the devilish charmer Mephistopheles Smith in a musical/comedy show he wrote entitled Disgracefully Yours, to which he later gave permission to be adapted into a musical, first by Eubank Productions for the Kansas City Fringe Fest in 2006, and more recently by Janus Theatre Company for the Edinburgh Fringe 2007, simply entitled Mephistopheles Smith. In late 2005, he appeared (as the spirit of the mirror) in the pantomime version of Snow White, which played at the Milton Keynes Theatre. In the summer of 2006, he played the Child Catcher in the Queen's 80th birthday celebrations at Buckingham Palace.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

O'Brien performed in Thank-You for the Music, a 90-minute ABBA documentary for ITV, directed by Martin Koch, who previously directed the musical Mamma Mia!{{cite web | url=http://www.lilmcclarnon.net/index.php?pid=1| title=News: Mamma Mia Lil!| publisher=Lil McClarnon official fansite | date=24 October 2006 | access-date=18 May 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061130112720/http://www.lilmcclarnon.net/index.php?pid=1 | archive-date= 30 November 2006|url-status=dead}} The documentary included a remake of the mini musical '"The Girl with the Golden Hair" which ABBA performed during their 1977 world tour and featured on ABBA: The Album (also 1977). The musical was performed at the Prince of Wales Theatre and featured O'Brien, Liz McClarnon and the Dynamos. He also hosted the 1993 Brit Awards.

A patron of the Five Stars Scanner Appeal,{{cite web|url=http://www.fivestarsappeal.co.uk|title=Five Stars – Home|publisher=Fivestarsappeal.co.uk|date=20 June 2009|access-date=24 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090724004504/http://www.fivestarsappeal.co.uk/|archive-date=24 July 2009|url-status=live}} which benefits the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. From 2001 to 2006 he hosted the annual Transfandango,{{cite web|url=http://www.wayout-publishing.com/transfandango/index.htm|title=Transfandango home page|publisher=Wayout-publishing.com|access-date=24 July 2009|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090405065859/http://www.wayout-publishing.com/transfandango/index.htm|archive-date=5 April 2009}} gala gathering of Dearhearts and Trans 'n' Gentle People to raise money for the hospital. This has since been superseded by Richard O'Brien's Halloween Party.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

A script for another rumoured sequel entitled Revenge of the Old Queen of Rocky Horror, has been circulated on the web and reproduced on various fan sites, although it has been officially denied as O'Brien's work by his representatives. While he has worked on a screenplay by that title, it was never publicly released. He wrote the lyrics for The Stripper (based on the book by Carter Brown), a musical which had its British premiere at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch (London) on 28 August 2009.{{cite web|url=http://www.queens-theatre.co.uk/archive/interviews/richardo'brien09.htm|title=An Interview with Richard O'Brien|access-date=10 March 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329180421/http://www.queens-theatre.co.uk/archive/interviews/richardo%27brien09.htm|archive-date=29 March 2016}}

In 2004, members of the Hamilton City Council in New Zealand honoured O'Brien's contribution to the arts with a statue of Riff Raff, the character he played in The Rocky Horror Show, on the site of the former Embassy Cinema.{{cite web|url=http://www.riffraffstatue.org/page/riffraff_5.php|title=The Embassy - Home - Riff Raff Statue > Victoria Street > Hamilton |work=riffraffstatue.org|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140918064707/http://www.riffraffstatue.org/page/riffraff_5.php|archive-date=18 September 2014}}

File:Richard O'Brien cropped.jpg

In September 2007, he reprised his role as the Child Catcher for the final two weeks of the five year British run of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He then played the role in its Singapore engagement for the month of November, extended to 9 December. Also in December, he visited Hamilton, New Zealand, for An Evening With Richard O'Brien, with presenter Mark Sainsbury and director Fiona Jackson.

{{Cite web|title=An Evening With Richard O'Brien|url=http://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2007/dec/hamilton/an-evening-with-richard-obrien|website=Eventfinda|date=16 December 2007 |access-date=22 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304085740/http://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2007/dec/hamilton/an-evening-with-richard-obrien|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=live}}

In December 2008, O'Brien donated his original script Pig in Boots to the Wireless Theatre Company,[http://www.wirelesstheatrecompany.co.uk The Wireless Theatre Company] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217083718/http://wirelesstheatrecompany.co.uk/ |date=17 December 2008 }}. who converted it into an audio pantomime. The show was recorded live at the Headliners Comedy Club in front of a studio audience with live FX and music. The production was opened by an original interview with O'Brien. In October 2012, O'Brien judged "Stage Fright" with the Wireless Theatre Company as part of the London Horror Festival and performed an acoustic set of Rocky Horror songs.[http://www.wirelesstheatrecompany.co.uk/index.php/component/jotloader?Itemid=15&cid=22&id=171 Rocky Horror songs] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130118072721/http://www.wirelesstheatrecompany.co.uk/index.php/component/jotloader?Itemid=15&cid=22&id=171|date=18 January 2013}}

In March 2012, he gave a performance of song and autobiographical stories, It's Party Time with Richard O'Brien at the Hamilton Founders Theatre to celebrate his 70th birthday. In June 2012, he returned to Hamilton, New Zealand, to appear on stage as Fagin with the Hamilton Operatic Society's production of Oliver! at the Founders Theatre.{{cite web|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/opinion/blogs/oliver-behind-the-scenes/6895685/Richard-O-Brien-joins-Oliver-rehearsals|title=Richard O'Brien joins 'Oliver!' rehearsals|author=Milroy, Yvonne|date=10 May 2012|access-date=10 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114135716/http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/opinion/blogs/oliver-behind-the-scenes/6895685/Richard-O-Brien-joins-Oliver-rehearsals|archive-date=14 November 2012|url-status=live}}

O'Brien appeared in 2015 in The Rocky Horror Show in the West End in a limited 11-performance run.[https://www.londontheatredirect.com/news/1684/BREAKING-NEWS--Creator-Richard-O-Brien-To-Star-In-The-Rocky-Horror-Show-Limited-Run-At-Playhouse-Theatre.aspx Creator Richard O'Brien To Star In The Rocky Horror Show Limited Run At Playhouse Theatre] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911034250/https://www.londontheatredirect.com/news/1684/BREAKING-NEWS--Creator-Richard-O-Brien-To-Star-In-The-Rocky-Horror-Show-Limited-Run-At-Playhouse-Theatre.aspx |date=11 September 2015 }}, LondonTheatreDirect.com, 25 August 2015.

In September 2016 O'Brien opened the second stage Embassy Park in Hamilton together with Mayor Julie Hardaker.{{cite web|url=http://www.voxy.co.nz/lifestyle/5/263770|title=Second stage of Hamilton's Embassy Park unveiled tonight|website=www.voxy.co.nz|access-date=9 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220073840/http://www.voxy.co.nz/lifestyle/5/263770|archive-date=20 December 2016|url-status=live}} In October 2016, he appeared as the Crystal Maze Computer in a one-off Celebrity Crystal Maze episode for the charity 'Stand Up To Cancer' on Channel 4.{{cite web|title=Richard O'Brien IS in the new Crystal Maze|url=http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/the-crystal-maze/news/a810205/richard-o-brien-crystal-maze-reboot-stand-up-to-cancer/|website=Digital Spy|language=en|date=11 October 2016|access-date=1 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170613213718/http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/the-crystal-maze/news/a810205/richard-o-brien-crystal-maze-reboot-stand-up-to-cancer/|archive-date=13 June 2017|url-status=live}}

In a 2009 interview, O'Brien spoke about an ongoing struggle to reconcile cultural gender roles and described himself as transgender or "of a third gender" as Anton Rodgers once told him. O'Brien stated, "There is a continuum between male and female. Some are hard-wired one way or another, I'm in between".{{Cite web |url=http://gay.pinknews.co.uk/2009/08/18/richard-obrien-society-should-not-dictate-gender |title=Society should not dictate gender |date=18 August 2009 |website=PinkNews.co.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227150829/http://gay.pinknews.co.uk/2009/08/18/richard-obrien-society-should-not-dictate-gender/ |archive-date=27 February 2012}} He expounded on this in a 2013 interview where he talked about using oestrogen for the previous decade, and that he views himself as 70% male and 30% female.{{cite news|last=Fidgen|first=Jo|title=Richard O'Brien: 'I'm 70% man'|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21788238|work=BBC News |access-date=18 March 2013|date=18 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130319003613/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21788238|archive-date=19 March 2013|url-status=live}} In 2017, O'Brien caused controversy when he said that he supported the statements of Germaine Greer and Barry Humphries that transgender women are not real women. He offered his sympathy to the trans community.{{cite web|first=Nick|last=Duffy|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2016/03/08/rocky-horror-star-richard-obrien-trans-women-cant-be-women/|title=Rocky Horror star Richard O'Brien: Trans women can't be women|website=Pink News|date=8 March 2016|access-date=2 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107010810/http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2016/03/08/rocky-horror-star-richard-obrien-trans-women-cant-be-women/|archive-date=7 November 2017|url-status=live}} In a 2020 interview with The Guardian, O'Brien was reported as stating: "I think anybody who decides to take the huge step with a sex change deserves encouragement and a thumbs-up. As long as they're happy and fulfilled, I applaud them to my very last day. But you can't ever become a natural woman". In a 2023 interview, O'Brien stated "We all know that nobody asks to be born straight or gay. We seem to be going backwards slightly, don't we, on this whole issue. I thought we'd have got over that. I thought we all understood now that people are born gay and people are born transgender. It's not a choice. I thought we'd all agreed on that. But lately, we're becoming confused by the whole subject once again. I prefer a more tolerant society".{{Cite news |last=Puschmann |first=Karl |date=October 2023 |title=Inside the mind of Richard O’Brien |url=https://www.unomagazine.co.nz/main-blog/inside-the-mind-of-richard-obrien |work=Uno Magazine}}

In June 2010, the media reported that O'Brien had been denied New Zealand citizenship owing to his being too old under the country's immigration criteria. He commented, "They build a statue of me and celebrate me as a New Zealander, but I have to go on my knees and do all sorts of things, and I'm probably too old."{{cite news|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=10996681|title=Cult icon denied retirement in Bay|newspaper=Bay of Plenty Times |date=5 June 2010|access-date=15 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616031748/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=10996681|archive-date=16 June 2018|url-status=live}} O'Brien's application appeared to garner public support and the decision was later overturned on appeal. In August 2010, New Zealand's Dominion Post reported that O'Brien would be allowed residency and possibly citizenship as an "exceptional" case.{{cite news|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3979912/Rocky-Horror-creator-to-be-granted-NZ-residency|title=Rocky Horror creator to be granted NZ residency|author=Hunt, Tom|date=2 August 2010|work=The Dominion Post|access-date=5 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614092318/http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3979912/Rocky-Horror-creator-to-be-granted-NZ-residency|archive-date=14 June 2011|url-status=live}} According to the Waikato Times, he was officially registered as a New Zealand citizen on 14 December 2011.{{cite news|last=Swainson|first=Richard|title=A drink with a hometown hero|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/opinion/columnists/richard-swainson/6233946/A-drink-with-a-hometown-hero|access-date=27 January 2012|newspaper=Waikato Times |date=10 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111010728/http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/opinion/columnists/richard-swainson/6233946/A-drink-with-a-hometown-hero|archive-date=11 January 2012|url-status=live}}

On 16 August 2010, he appeared on an episode of Celebrity Cash in the Attic, where he donated the takings from his sale of memorabilia to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Manchester.

O'Brien has been married three times and has three children. He and actress Kimi Wong were married on 4 December 1971 and had a son Linus in May 1972. He has a son and daughter from his second marriage to designer Jane Moss.

On 7 July 2012, aged 70, he proposed to Sabrina Graf, aged 35, a native of Germany, whom he had been dating for three years.{{cite news|last=Edwards|first=Natalie|title=Love at the double: Crystal Maze star Richard O'Brien, 70, to marry his girlfriend, 35|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/richard-obrien-to-marry-sabrina-graf-1546136|access-date=22 August 2013|newspaper=Mirror UK|date=19 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130810045847/http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/richard-obrien-to-marry-sabrina-graf-1546136|archive-date=10 August 2013|url-status=live}} They married on 6 April 2013 at their home in Katikati, Bay of Plenty.{{cite news|title=Richard O'Brien's white wedding|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11095656|access-date=22 August 2013|newspaper=Bay of Plenty Times |date=8 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213091919/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=11095656|archive-date=13 December 2013|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Rocky Horror star marries|url=http://sunlive.co.nz/news/41601-rocky-horror-star-marries.html|access-date=22 August 2013|newspaper=Sunlive|date=7 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826165722/http://sunlive.co.nz/news/41601-rocky-horror-star-marries.html|archive-date=26 August 2013|url-status=live}}

• "Merry Christmas Baby" (Kimi and Ritz) (1973)
• "Eddie" (Richard O'Brien) (1973)
• "Merry Christmas Baby (DJ version)" (Kimi and Ritz) – Epic Records (1974)
• "I was in love with Danny (but the crowd was in love with Dean)" (Kimi and Ritz) (1974)
• "Pseud's Corner" (Richard O'Brien) (1975)
• "Liebesträume" (Franz Liszt/Richard O'Brien) (performed by Kimi and Ritz) (1975)
• "There's a Light" (Kimi and Ritz) (1975)

• Absolute O'brien (1999) (Oglio Records)

• The Rocky Horror Show (Original London cast) (1973)
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
• Shock Treatment (1981)

• 1998: Berlin International Film Festival Award - Special Teddy (for The Rocky Horror Picture Show){{cite press release|date=February 2009|url=http://www.teddyaward.org/doc/teddy_winner_en.pdf|title=Queer Film Award at the International Film Festival Berlin|first=Mabel|last=Aschenneller|publisher=Teddy Award. Berlin International Film Festival|access-date=28 July 2019|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317183014/http://www.teddyaward.org/doc/teddy_winner_en.pdf|archive-date=17 March 2012|edition=Digital |language=en}}
• 2000: Gaylactic Spectrum Award (for The Rocky Horror Picture Show){{cite web |url=http://www.spectrumawards.org/2000.htm |title=2000 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards |access-date=13 November 2008 |year=2008 |publisher=Gaylactic Spectrum Award Foundation |archive-date=14 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714234202/http://www.spectrumawards.org/2000.htm |url-status=dead |language=en}}

• 1974: Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album (for The Rocky Horror Show){{Cite web|date=19 November 2019|title=Richard O'Brien|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/richard-obrien|access-date=29 May 2020|website=GRAMMY.com|language=en}}
• 1999: Fangoria Chainsaw Award - Best Supporting Actor (for Dark City)
• 2001: Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical (for The Rocky Horror Show)[http://broadwayworld.com/tonyawardsyear.cfm?year=2001 2001 Tony Awards] broadwayworld.com, accessed 28 April 2011 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122231731/http://broadwayworld.com/tonyawardsyear.cfm?year=2001 |date=22 January 2014 }}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{IMDb name|0639782}}
• {{IBDB name}}
• [http://www.rockymusic.org/tags/Richard+O%27Brien.php Richard O'Brien at RockyMusic.org]
• {{YouTube|C00_NdsoJc8|Interview on British television}}
• [http://www.riffraffstatue.org RiffRaffStatue.org], for the tribute statue in Hamilton, New Zealand
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090207094916/http://wirelesstheatrecompany.co.uk/index.php/component/jotloader?Itemid=15&cid=14&id=84 Pig In Boots], Richard O'Brien's Pig in Boots – Audio Pantomime produced by The Wireless Theatre Company

{{The Rocky Horror Picture Show}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Richard}}

Category:1942 births

Category:20th-century English LGBTQ people

Category:21st-century English LGBTQ people

Category:English emigrants to New Zealand

Category:English LGBTQ broadcasters

Category:English LGBTQ composers

Category:English LGBTQ singers

Category:English male film actors

Category:English male television actors

Category:English male voice actors

Category:English non-binary actors

Category:English non-binary musicians

Category:English non-binary writers

Category:English television presenters

Category:Living people

Category:Male actors from Cheltenham

Category:Male-to-female cross-dressers

Category:Musicians from Gloucestershire

Category:Naturalised citizens of New Zealand

Category:New Zealand non-binary people

Category:Non-binary composers

Category:Non-binary singers

Category:Writers from Cheltenham