Richard Timothy Smith (born 25 March 1942), known professionally as Richard O'Brien, is a British-New Zealand actor, writer, musician, and television presenter. He wrote the musical stage show ''

The Rocky Horror Show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' is a musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to the science fiction and horror B movies of the 1930s through to the early 1960s, the musical tells the story of a newly engaged couple ...

'' in 1973, which has remained in continuous production. He also co-wrote the screenplay along with director

Jim Sharman James David Sharman (born 12 March 1945) is an Australian director and writer for film and stage with more than 70 productions to his credit. He is renowned in Australia for his work as a theatre director from the 1960s to the present, and is b ...

for the film adaptation, ''

The Rocky Horror Picture Show ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' is a 1975 musical comedy horror film by 20th Century Fox, produced by Lou Adler and Michael White and directed by Jim Sharman. The screenplay was written by Sharman and actor Richard O'Brien, who is also ...

'' (1975), and appeared on-screen as Riff Raff; the film became an international success and has received a large

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

. O'Brien co-wrote the musical ''

Shock Treatment ''Shock Treatment'' is a 1981 American musical comedy film directed by Jim Sharman, and co-written by Sharman and Richard O'Brien. It is a follow-up to the 1975 film ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show''. While not an outright sequel, the film doe ...

'' (1981) and appeared in the film as Dr. Cosmo McKinley. O'Brien presented four series of the television game show ''

The Crystal Maze ''The Crystal Maze'' is a British game show devised by Jacques Antoine, based upon his format for the French game show '' Fort Boyard'', and produced for Channel 4. The programme focuses on teams of contestants, a mixed group of men and women, ...

'' (1990–1993) for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

. He played the voice role of

Lawrence Fletcher Lawrence Fletcher (died 1608) was a Jacobean actor, and man of mystery. Fletcher was named first on the royal patent of 19 May 1603 that transformed the Lord Chamberlain's Men into the King's Men. William Shakespeare was second, and Richard Bu ...

in the

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

animated series ''

Phineas and Ferb ''Phineas and Ferb'' is an American animated musical-comedy television series created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh for Disney Channel and Disney XD. Produced by Disney Television Animation, the series was originally broadcast as a ...

'' (2007–2015), as well as its two films (2011 and 2020). His other acting credits include ''Flash Gordon'' (1980), ''

Robin of Sherwood ''Robin of Sherwood'' is a British television series, based on the legend of Robin Hood. Created by Richard Carpenter, it was produced by HTV in association with Goldcrest, and ran from 28 April 1984 to 28 June 1986 on the ITV network. In the ...

'' (1985), ''Dark City'' (1998), ''

Ever After ''Ever After'' (known in promotional material as ''Ever After: A Cinderella Story'') is a 1998 American romantic period drama film inspired by the Charles Perrault fairy tale, "Cinderella". It is directed by Andy Tennant and stars Drew Barrymor ...

'' (1998), ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (2000), and ''Elvira's Haunted Hills'' (2001). After a long and successful career based in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, O'Brien gained

dual citizenship Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on ...

with

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 2011, where he resided in

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

. O’Brien identifies as

third gender Third gender is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither man nor woman. It is also a social category present in societies that recognize three or more genders. The term ''third'' is usually ...

and uses he/him pronouns.

Early life

O'Brien was born Richard Timothy Smith in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. He emigrated with his family to

, at the age of 10, where his accountant father had purchased a sheep farm. He went to

Tauranga Boys' College Tauranga Boys' College is a state secondary school for boys, located on the edge of the downtown area of Tauranga, New Zealand. The school was founded in 1946 as Tauranga College, before overcrowding saw the school become single-sex in 1958. The s ...

. 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 A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...

in ''

Carry On Cowboy ''Carry On Cowboy'' is a 1965 British comedy Western film, the eleventh in the series of 31 ''Carry On'' films (1958–1992). It was the first film to feature series regulars Peter Butterworth and Bernard Bresslaw. Series regulars Sid James, Ken ...

'') and developing a keen interest in

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

s and

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

s. He launched his acting career using his maternal grandmother's name, as there was already an actor named Richard Smith. He says that his time in New Zealand instilled him with a sense of egalitarianism and gave him "a great sense of freedom".

Career

To improve his acting skills, O'Brien took

method acting Method acting, informally known as The Method, is a range of training and rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, u ...

classes, and then joined several stage productions as an actor. In 1970, he went into the touring production of ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and f ...

'' for nine months, and spent another nine months in the London production. In the summer of 1972, he met director

who cast him as an Apostle and Leper in the London production of ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with ...

''. Sharman then cast O'Brien as Willie, the alien in his March 1973 production of

Sam Shepard Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American actor, playwright, author, screenwriter, and director whose career spanned half a century. He won 10 Obie Awards for writing and directing, the most by any write ...

's ''The Unseen Hand'' at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, Englan ...

Upstairs. Sharman also helped make O'Brien's draft of a

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

-themed, schlock-horror comic-book fantasy romp into a reality. Sharman suggested changing the working title from ''They Came from Denton High'', and ''

'' 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 King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

, then to the King's Road Theatre (formerly a cinema known as the Essoldo) and eventually into the West End at the

Comedy Theatre The Harold Pinter Theatre, known as the Comedy Theatre until 2011,

. After seeing the second night's performance of ''The Rocky Horror Show'' in the Theatre Upstairs,

Jonathan King Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He first came to prominence in 1965 when "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", a song that he wrote and sang while still an undergraduate, ...

produced the original cast soundtrack in just over 48 hours during an off-stage weekend, and rushed it out on his

UK Records UK Records was a music label launched in 1972 by Jonathan King to distribute his own releases and those by some other artists.

label. He also became a 20% backer with producer Michael White, who put up the remaining 80%. During this period, O'Brien and his wife Kimi Wong recorded and released pop singles under the name

Kimi and Ritz Kimi and Ritz were a short-lived English pop vocal duo in the early 1970s, comprising Richard O'Brien (best known as the creator of cult stage musical ''The Rocky Horror Show'') and his then-wife, Kimi Wong. Although the duo only recorded six song ...

Later career

O'Brien continued writing musicals with arranger Richard Hartley, including: ''T. Zee'' (1976), ''Disaster'' (1978), ''The Stripper'' (1982 – based on the

Carter Brown Carter Brown was the literary pseudonym of Alan Geoffrey Yates (1 August 19235 May 1985), an English-born Australian writer of detective fiction. Between 1954 and 1984 Yates published 215 ‘Carter Brown’ novels and some ...

novel and produced in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

), and ''Top People'' (1984). O'Brien and Hartley also provided three songs for the film ''

The Return of Captain Invincible ''The Return of Captain Invincible'' is a 1983 Australian superhero film, superhero musical film, musical comedy film directed by Philippe Mora, and starring Alan Arkin and Christopher Lee. It was a box office disappointment on release but has be ...

'' (1983), starring

Alan Arkin Alan Wolf Arkin (born March 26, 1934) is an American actor, director and screenwriter known for his performances on stage and screen. Throughout his career spanning over six decades, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award ...

. O'Brien wrote his one-man revue ''Disgracefully Yours'' (1985) singing as Mephistopheles Smith. O'Brien has appeared in ''

Jubilee A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...

'' (1977), ''

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...

'' (1980), '' Dark City'' (1998), ''

'' (1998) and ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

'' (2000), among others. Additionally he guest starred in five episodes in the third series of the HTV dramatisation of ''

'', as the corrupt

druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...

Gulnar. A music CD of the songs from ''Disgracefully Yours'' entitled ''Absolute O'Brien'' was released in 1998. He became the presenter of UK

's game show ''

'' in 1990, specialising in sardonic put-downs, occasional eccentricities and playing his

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

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 Edward Felix Tudor-Pole (also known as Edward Tenpole, though he introduced himself as "Ed" on several episodes of ''The Crystal Maze''; born 6 December 1955) is an English musician, television presenter and actor. Originally gaining fame in th ...

. After two series without O'Brien, the show was cancelled. In other roles, O'Brien has conceptualised and played the role of the

Child Catcher The Child Catcher is a fictional character in the 1968 film ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' and in the later stage musical adaptation. The Child Catcher is employed by Baron Bomburst and Baroness Bomburst to snatch and imprison children on the street ...

in the West End theatre production of ''

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' is a 1968 musical-fantasy film directed by Ken Hughes with a screenplay co-written by Roald Dahl and Hughes, loosely based on Ian Fleming's novel '' Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car'' (1964). The film stars ...

''. He also occasionally performs

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

-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 The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

2007, simply entitled ''Mephistopheles Smith''. In late 2005, he appeared (as the spirit of the mirror) in the pantomime version of ''

Snow White "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as Ta ...

'', which played at the

Milton Keynes Theatre Milton Keynes Theatre is a large theatre in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. It opened on 4 October 1999, 25 years after the campaign for a new theatre first started. Designed by architects Blonski-Heard with Kut Nadiadi and Robert Doe, the thea ...

. In the summer of 2006, he played the Child Catcher in the Queen's 80th birthday celebrations at

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

. O'Brien performed in ''Thank-You for the Music'', a 90-minute

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...

documentary for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

, directed by Martin Koch, who previously directed the musical '' Mamma Mia!'' 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 The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre in Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in London. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner. The theatre ...

and featured O'Brien,

Liz McClarnon Elizabeth Margaret McClarnon (born 10 April 1981) is an English pop singer, songwriter, dancer, television presenter and actress. She is the longest serving member of the girl group Atomic Kitten, with whom she has scored three number-one single ...

and the Dynamos. He also hosted the 1993

Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

. A patron of the Five Stars Scanner Appeal, which benefits the

Royal Manchester Children's Hospital The Royal Manchester Children's Hospital is a children's hospital in Oxford Road, Manchester, England. The Royal Manchester Children's Hospital is managed by the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. History A new hospital was required to ...

. From 2001 to 2006 he hosted the annual Transfandango, 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''. 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

), a musical which had its British premiere at the

Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch The Queen's Theatre is a 507-seat mid-scale producing theatre located in Hornchurch in the London Borough of Havering, east London. History Hornchurch Urban District Council purchased a derelict cinema on Station Lane (the site of the present R ...

(London) on 28 August 2009. In 2004, members of the

Hamilton City Council Hamilton City Council is the governing body of the City of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Since 21 November 1960, Council has met at Hamilton City Hall at 71 Main Street West. The current council consists of the mayor In many countries, a mayor i ...

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. Richard O'Brien cropped

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 Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

engagement for the month of November, extended to 9 December. Also in December, he visited

Hamilton, New Zealand Hamilton ( mi, Kirikiriroa) is an inland city in the North Island of New Zealand. Located on the banks of the Waikato River, it is the seat and most populous city of the Waikato region. With a territorial population of , it is the country's fou ...

for ''An Evening With Richard O'Brien'', with presenter Mark Sainsbury and director Fiona Jackson. In December 2008, O'Brien donated his original script ''Pig in Boots'' to the

Wireless Theatre Company The Wireless Theatre Company is an online audio theatre company specializing in creating modern audio drama. It was founded in July 2007 by Mariele Runacre Temple, daughter of actress Jenny Runacre. Overview The company produces radio drama, au ...

, 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. 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! ''Oliver!'' is a coming-of-age stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre, southwest London in 1960 before op ...

'' at the Founders Theatre. O'Brien appeared in 2015 in ''

'' in the West End in a limited 11-performance run. In September 2016 O'Brien opened the second stage Embassy Park in Hamilton together with Mayor Julie Hardaker. 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.

Personal life

In a 2009 interview, O'Brien spoke about an ongoing struggle to reconcile cultural

gender role A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cent ...

s and described himself as

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

or "of a

". O'Brien stated, "There is a continuum between male and female. Some are hard-wired one way or another, I’m in between." He expounded on this in a 2013 interview where he talked about using

estrogen Estrogen or oestrogen is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. There are three major endogenous estrogens that have estrogenic hormonal acti ...

for the previous decade, and that he views himself as 70% male and 30% female. In 2017, O'Brien caused controversy when he said that he supported the statements of

Germaine Greer Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and public intellectual, regarded as one of the major voices of the radical feminist movement in the latter half of the 20th century. Specializing in English and women's literatu ...

and

Barry Humphries John Barry Humphries (born 17 February 1934) is an Australian comedian, actor, author and satirist. He is best known for writing and playing his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He is also a film prod ...

that transgender women are not real women. He offered his sympathy to the trans community. In a 2020 interview with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 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 June 2010, the media reported that O'Brien had been denied

New Zealand citizenship New Zealand nationality law details the conditions by which a person holds New Zealand nationality. The primary law governing nationality requirements is the Citizenship Act 1977, which came into force on 1 January 1978. Regulations apply to t ...

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." 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. According to the ''

Waikato Times The ''Waikato Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Hamilton, New Zealand and owned by media business Stuff Ltd. It has a circulation to the greater Waikato region and became a tabloid paper in 2018. The newspaper has won the title of Ne ...

'', he was officially registered as a New Zealand citizen on 14 December 2011. 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

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. 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 Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, whom he had been dating for three years. They married on 6 April 2013 at their home in Katikati, Bay of Plenty.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Theatre

Discography

Singles

* "Merry Christmas Baby" (

) (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 Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

/Richard O'Brien) (performed by Kimi and Ritz) (1975) * "There's a Light" (Kimi and Ritz) (1975)

Albums

* ''Absolute O'brien'' (1999) (

Oglio Records Oglio Records is an American record company started in 1993 by Carl Caprioglio. The label issues compilations of rare 1980s modern rock and new wave songs, many previously unreleased on CD. In addition to releasing new material by artists such ...

)

Soundtracks and cast recordings

* ''

'' (Original London cast) (1973) * ''

'' (1975) * ''

'' (1981)

Awards and nominations

Awards

* 1998: Berlin International Film Festival Award - Special Teddy (for ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'') * 2000:

Gaylactic Spectrum Award The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards are given to works of science fiction, fantasy and horror that explore LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) topics in a positive way. Established in 1998, the awards were initially presented by the Gaylact ...

(for ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'')

Nominations

* 1974:

Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album The Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album has been awarded since 1959. The award is generally given to the album producer, principal vocalist(s), and the composer and lyricist if they have written a new score which comprises 51% or more play ...

(for ''The Rocky Horror Show'') * 1999:

Fangoria Chainsaw Award The Fangoria Chainsaw Awards are an award ceremony focused on horror and thriller films. Beginning in 1992, the awards were expanded and an annual ceremony was inaugurated to give out the awards. As of 2015, Fangoria also delivers awards to tele ...

- Best Supporting Actor (for ''Dark City'') * 2001:

Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical The Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical has been awarded since 1994. Before that time, both plays and musicals were considered together for the Tony Award for Best Revival. The award is given to the best musical play which has already appeared ...

(for ''The Rocky Horror Show'')2001 Tony Awards
broadwayworld.com, accessed April 28, 2011

References

External links

* *
Richard O'Brien at RockyMusic.org
*
RiffRaffStatue.org
for the tribute statue in Hamilton, New Zealand
Pig In Boots
Richard O'Brien's Pig in Boots – Audio Pantomime produced by The Wireless Theatre Company {{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Richard Genderqueer people Living people English male film actors English television presenters English male television actors English male voice actors Male actors from Gloucestershire Musicians from Gloucestershire People from Cheltenham English LGBT actors LGBT composers English LGBT musicians British LGBT singers English LGBT writers English emigrants to New Zealand Naturalised citizens of New Zealand Male-to-female cross-dressers Non-binary writers Non-binary musicians British non-binary actors Year of birth missing (living people)