Derrick O'Connor (3 January 1941 – 29 June 2018) was an Irish actor, who worked extensively in the United Kingdom and the United States.
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Early life and education
O'Connor was born in Dublin in 1941, and raised there and in London, England. He trained at the East 15 Acting School in Essex.
Career
Theatre
O'Connor first achieved prominence on stage in Edinburgh, thanks to his work with the Traverse Theatre and the Royal Lyceum Theatre. He starred in avant-garde plays by the likes of Stanley Eveling and Megan Terry. Under director Richard Eyre, he starred in productions of The Taming of the Shrew, The Caretaker, and Oh, What a Lovely War!. In London, he starred in The Merry-Go-Round at the Royal Court Theatre. He also starred in Moby-Dick (directed by Keith Johnstone), in Blood Sports opposite Simon Callow, and in Born Yesterday at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. He also performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
After moving to the United States, O'Connor directed and produced plays in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Film and television
O'Connor was best known for his performance as South African mercenary Pieter Vorstedt in Lethal Weapon 2 and for his roles in three Terry Gilliam 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 (1976). In 1980, he appeared as Ray Fox in the Thames TV series Fox.
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.
In 1986, the BBC Scotland play Four of One by Gawn Grainger starred O'Connor along with Mark McManus, Derek Newark and Trevor Ray.
Personal life
O'Connor married Mimi Suzanne Ploss in 1990. They had a son, Max, a filmmaker.
Death
O'Connor died from pneumonia in Santa Barbara, on 29 June 2018, at the age of 77.