Richard O'Brien Biography

Fast Facts

• A patron of the Five Stars Scanner Appeal, he has helped raise money for the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital with his annual Transfandango gala and the Richard O'Brien's Halloween Party event
• Won a Special Teddy at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1998
• Though he was born in England, he moved to New Zealand with his family after his accountant father decided to become a sheep farmer
• After trying to start a singing career, he became a movie stuntman and fringe theater actor
• Quote: "I knew when I was six that I wanted to be a fairy princess when I grew up․"
• Quote: "I love it when I'm introduced to people who have been married for 50 or 60 years․ I wish it could have happened to me, but I was an adolescent for years and years․"
• Frequently collaborated with arranger Richard Hartley on musicals and songs following the success of "The Rocky Horror Show․"
• Best known for writing the cult classic musical "The Rocky Horror Show," and co-writing the screenplay for its film adaptation, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show․"
• Returned to New Zealand with his children regularly so that they could get to know their relatives there
• Won his struggle to become a citizen of New Zealand in 2011