Richard Timothy Smith (born 25 March 1942) better
known under his
stage name
Richard O'Brien, is an English
writer, actor,
television presenter and
theatre performer. He is perhaps best known for
writing the
cult musical
The Rocky Horror Show and for his
role in presenting the popular TV show
The Crystal Maze. In addition to
writing
The Rocky Horror Show O'Brien also starred in its
1975 film adaptation
as the character
Riff Raff. The stage show
has been in almost continuous production and the cinematic version
is one of the best known and most ardently followed
cult films of all time. He is also the voice of
Lawrence Fletcher, the title character's father in
Phineas and Ferb.
Early life
O'Brien
was born Richard Timothy Smith in 1942 in Cheltenham
, Gloucestershire
, England. In 1951, O'Brien emigrated with his family
to Tauranga
, New
Zealand, where his father had purchased a sheep farm.
After
learning 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 returned to England
in
1964. Upon launching his acting career he changed his name
to O'Brien, his maternal grandmother's name, as there was already
an actor named Richard Smith.
Early work
After taking a few
Method acting
classes, O'Brien 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. May 1972 saw the birth of his
son Linus by Kimi Wong, and that summer 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, and would help 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.
O'Brien tried to repeat the success and
cult
status that
The
Rocky Horror Picture Show gained, with a follow-up movie,
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. Over the years it has
achieved minor cult status, mostly thanks to the Rocky Horror
phenomenon. Fans of Rocky Horror were disappointed by the absence
of both the Dr. Frank-N-Furter character, and
Tim Curry, who played him. Curry had been offered
the role of Farley Flavors, but turned it down over concerns about
the required American accent. 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.
Later career
Richard 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).
In 1995 O'Brien wrote his one-man revue
Disgracefully
Yours, singing as Mephistopheles Smith. O'Brien became a
serial bit-part actor in cult films and has appeared in notable
movies such as
Jubilee
(1977),
Flash Gordon
(1980),
Dark City
(1998),
Ever After (1998), and
Dungeons &
Dragons (2000). Additionally he guest starred in five
episodes in the third season of the popular
HTV
dramatisation of
Robin of
Sherwood, as the corrupt
druid,
Gulnar.
In 1998 he released a music CD of the songs from
Disgracefully
Yours entitled "Absolute O'Brien."
He became the presenter of UK
Channel 4's
popular game show
The Crystal
Maze in 1990, specialising in sardonic put-downs and
harmonica playing. The show's heyday was
around 1991-1993. It was regularly Channel 4's highest watched
programme, mainly seen by children and young adults (particularly
university students who made it into a cult show), reaching a peak
of 7 million viewers for the 1993 Christmas special. The extent of
both the shows and to a large extent O'Brien's success is shown by
the fact that
The Crystal Maze was named 'Greatest UK Game
Show of All Time' in a 2006 poll by the UKGameshows.com website.
Richard left The Crystal Maze in 1993 after the fourth series; the
show was then taken over by
Edward
Tudor-Pole. It never achieved the same degree of success under
Tudor-Pole, and was discontinued within two years.
In other
roles O'Brien has conceptualized and played the role of the Child
Catcher in the West End
theatre
production of Chitty Chitty Bang
Bang. He also occasionally does
cabaret-style music and comedy performances 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, which was later given
permission to be adapted into a musical, performed first by 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
.
Richard 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! LilMcClarnon.net News October 24, 2006
(Accessed October 26, 2006) The documentary included
a remake of the mini
musical The
Girl with the Golden Hair which ABBA performed during their
1977 world tour and which was featured on
The Album.
The musical was be performed at the
Prince of Wales
Theatre
and featured Richard O'Brien, Liz McClarnon, and the Dynamos. LilMcClarnon.net News October 31, 2006
(Accessed November 1, 2006)
He is also
a patron of the Five Stars Scanner Appeal, which benefits the
Royal Manchester Children's
Hospital
, UK. From 2001 until 2006 he hosted the
annual Transfandango, gala gathering of "Dearhearts and Trans 'n'
Gentle People" to raise money for the hospital. This has now been
superseded by 'Richard O'Brien's Halloween Party'.
He wrote a Rocky Horror sequel which ended up as
Shock Treatment. A script for a rumored
sequel entitled
Revenge of the Old Queen, has been
circulated on the web and reproduced on various fansites, though
officially denied as O'Brien's work by his representatives. While
he has worked on a screenplay of that title, it was never publicly
released, nor will a film ever be made. He has been working again
on
The Stripper (based on the book by
Carter Brown), a musical for which he wrote the
lyrics and which has its UK premiere at The Queen's Theatre in
Hornchurch, Essex on August 28th 2009. Following a three-week run,
it will begin a national tour.
In 2004,
Hamilton
City Council of New Zealand honoured O'Brien's
contribution to the arts with a statue of Riff Raff, the character
Richard played in The Rocky Horror Show, on the site of
the former Embassy Cinema. His love of horror and similar
genres can be traced back to the countless afternoons he spent
watching double feature horror/sci-fi films at the Embassy before
he moved back to England.
In September 2007 he reprised his role as the Child Catcher for the
final 2 weeks of
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's 5 year UK run,
and 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 and presented
An
Evening With Richard O'Brien, in conjunction with an
independent NZ film group, planning to film a musical based on his
early life,
The King's Stilettoes.
In December 2008 Richard O'Brien donated his original script, Pig
In Boots to The Wireless Theatre Company 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 Richard
O'Brien.
Personal life
O'Brien has married twice and fathered three children. In a 2009
interview he spoke about an ongoing struggle to reconcile cultural
gender roles and described himself as
being
transgender or possible
third sex. O'Brien stated, "There is a continuum
between male and female. Some are hard-wired one way or another,
I’m in between."
Filmography
References
- Richard O'Brien (I) - Biography
- Harding, James (1987). The Rocky Horror Show Book.
London: Sidgwick & Jackson. 22-23.
- Richard O'Brien: 'Society should not dictate
gender' PinkNews.co.uk, August 18, 2009.
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