Rocky Horror Turns Forty

New Zealand-raised actor Richard O’Brien, 70, writer of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, talks about family shame over working class roots, being transgender, the difficulty of born- again Christians, wanting to be a fairy princess, wearing dresses, abandoning a child, getting married at 70 — and that’s just his personal life not the show. In 1951, O’Brien emigrated with his family to Tauranga, where his father had purchased a sheep farm. “I made sure I returned to New Zealand with [my children] on a regular basis because I wanted them to know their aunties, uncles and grandparents in case anything happened to me.” The 40th anniversary production of The Rocky Horror Show is touring the UK.