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Richard O'Brien
Richard O'Brien (born Richard Timothy Smith; 25 March 1942) is a British and New Zealand actor, playwright and singer. He wrote the musical stage show The Rocky Horror Show in 1973, which has remained in continuous production. He also co-wrote the screenplay along with director Jim Sharman for the film adaptation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), and appeared on-screen as Riff Raff. O'Brien co-wrote the musical film Shock Treatment (1981) and appeared on-screen as Dr. Cosmo McKinley.
O'Brien presented the Channel 4 game show The Crystal Maze (1990–1993) and played the voice role of Lawrence Fletcher in the Disney Channel animated series Phineas and Ferb (2008–2015; 2025–present) and its two films (2011 and 2020). His other acting credits include Flash Gordon (1980), Spice World (1997), Ever After (1998), Dark City (1998), Dungeons & Dragons (2000), and Elvira's Haunted Hills (2001).
After a long and successful career based in the United Kingdom, O'Brien gained dual citizenship with New Zealand in 2011, where he resided in Tauranga. O'Brien is transgender and identifies himself as third gender and uses he/him pronouns.
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. 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. 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) 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] 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".
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. 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. O'Brien then took over the role of King Herod, but the producer disagreed with his interpretation and fired him after his first performance in the role. 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.
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. 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) 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%.
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Richard O'Brien
Richard O'Brien (born Richard Timothy Smith; 25 March 1942) is a British and New Zealand actor, playwright and singer. He wrote the musical stage show The Rocky Horror Show in 1973, which has remained in continuous production. He also co-wrote the screenplay along with director Jim Sharman for the film adaptation, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), and appeared on-screen as Riff Raff. O'Brien co-wrote the musical film Shock Treatment (1981) and appeared on-screen as Dr. Cosmo McKinley.
O'Brien presented the Channel 4 game show The Crystal Maze (1990–1993) and played the voice role of Lawrence Fletcher in the Disney Channel animated series Phineas and Ferb (2008–2015; 2025–present) and its two films (2011 and 2020). His other acting credits include Flash Gordon (1980), Spice World (1997), Ever After (1998), Dark City (1998), Dungeons & Dragons (2000), and Elvira's Haunted Hills (2001).
After a long and successful career based in the United Kingdom, O'Brien gained dual citizenship with New Zealand in 2011, where he resided in Tauranga. O'Brien is transgender and identifies himself as third gender and uses he/him pronouns.
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. 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. 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) 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] 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".
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. 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. O'Brien then took over the role of King Herod, but the producer disagreed with his interpretation and fired him after his first performance in the role. 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.
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. 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) 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%.