Derrick O'Connor (3 January 1941 – 29 June 2018) was an Irish theatre and character actor who trained at East 15 Acting School, London.
Life and career
O'Connor was best known for his performance as South African mercenary Pieter Vorstedt in ''
Lethal Weapon 2
''Lethal Weapon 2'' is a 1989 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Richard Donner, and starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Joss Ackland, Derrick O'Connor and Patsy Kensit. It is a sequel to the 1987 film '' Letha ...
'' and for his roles in three
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance Gilliam ( ; born 22 November 1940) is an American-British filmmaker, comedian, collage film, collage animator, and actor. He gained stardom as a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe alongside John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Pa ...
films. He also appeared as Jack Stone in the British police drama series ''
The Professionals'' in the episode "You'll be Alright". Another role was that of Peter Morgan in the series ''
Crown Court
The Crown Court is the criminal trial court, court of first instance in England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals of the decisions of magistrates' courts. It is ...
'' (1976). In 1980, he appeared as Ray Fox in the
Thames TV series ''
Fox''.
O'Connor was a member of the
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...
.
Gilliam, who directed O'Connor in three films, had noted in his audio commentaries that O'Connor seemed to have a habit of relinquishing most of his dialogue in favour of physical character humour. Notable examples include ''Time Bandits'', in which his character's dialogue was resorted to simple grunts while the Maid Marian character "translated" for him and in ''Brazil'', in which O'Connor scrapped all of his character's dialogue and simply repeated the dialogue of
Bob Hoskins' character.
O'Connor died from pneumonia in
Santa Barbara, on 29 June 2018, at the age of 77.
Filmography
Television
References
External links
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1941 births
2018 deaths
Irish male film actors
Male actors from Dublin (city)
Royal Shakespeare Company members
Deaths from pneumonia in California
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