When you do something like Rocky, which is undefinable somehow, it always becomes difficult to lose that. Not that I have any interest in saying goodbye to Rocky. I absolutely adore being involved and a part of something that is really a phenomenon. With the film around for 25 years and the show being around even longer— still running and continuing to fill house all around the word— it's really an exciting and wonderful thing to be part of that. And I have no problems with that at all. If it overshadows anything else, I can understand completely why and again it doesn't worry me.
Watching horror and science-fiction double features in nearby Hamilton, New Zealand, O'Brien added an interest in acting to his love of rock and roll. He moved back to England in 1964, tried singing, then bеcame a movie stuntman and fringe theater actor.[2]
Born in England, but moved to Tauranga, New Zealand when his father decided to switch jobs from accountant to sheep farmer.
Changed his name from Smith to O'Brien after learning there was another Richard Smith registered with the British Actors Equity. He chose O'Brien because it was his maternal grandmother's name.