Born Richard Timothy Smith on March 25, 1942 in Cheltenham, England, Richard
O'Brien emigrated to New Zealand aged 10 before returning to England in 1964,
where he set his sights on becoming an actor. The English-New Zealand actor,
writer, musician, and TV presenter took his maternal grandmother's name and
kicked his acting career into gear in the early '70s, appearing in a production
of Hair (1970), Jesus Christ Superstar (1972), and Sam Shepard's The Unseen Hand
(1973). Having honed an interest in horror, B-movies, and sci-fi, he wrote the
musical stage show The Rocky Horror Sh...