Richard O'Brien
From Open Encyclopedia
Richard O'Brien (born Richard Smith on March 25 1942) is a stuntman, actor and writer. He is best known for writing the musical The Rocky Horror Show and its 1975 film adaptation The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The stage show has been in almost continuous production since, and the cinematic version is arguably the best known cult film of all time. O'Brien wrote the script and songs, and acted in the film. He is also known as presenter of The Crystal Maze. He has starred in over twenty feature films and originated the role of the Child Catcher in the West End theatre production of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang".
O'Brien was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. In 1952, he emigrated with his family to Tauranga, New Zealand where his father had purchased a sheep farm. He returned to England in 1964. O'Brien was married to actress Kimi Wong, whom he met during a production of Hair. He had one son with her, Linus, before divorcing. He is now married to Jane Moss. They have two children together, Joshua and Amelia.
Due to the enormous success and cult status The Rocky Horror Picture Show gained, O'Brien tried to recreate the success with a continuation, 1981's Shock Treatment. Four other members of the original film cast appeared with O'Brien in the new film, which continued the story of Brad and Janet (played by Cliff de Young and Jessica Harper). It did poorly in theaters and did not attain the cult status of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. O'Brien wrote new songs for the film, which also features a rare film appearance by Australian actor Barry Humphries (famous for his character Dame Edna Everage).
In 2004, Hamilton, New Zealand City Council honoured O'Brien's contribution to the arts with a statue of Riff-Raff, the character Richard played in "The Rocky Horror Show".
In Runescape, a massively multiplayer online role-playing computer game (MMORPG), there is a non-playable character named "Brien O'Richard"; which is a basic anagram of Richard O'Brien. Brien O'Richard runs the "Rogue's Den" mini-game, which involves a maze of short puzzles, similar to that of The Crystal Maze.
