Please Rewind Talent Wall

Brian O'Connor

Brian O'Connor built a varied career across comedy, theatre, film and television, but he remains best known for playing Horace Schemer on Shining Time Station. Roguish, clumsy and ultimately caring, Schemer became the actor's signature role during the show's 1989–1993 run. O'Connor continued making public appearances as the character after the series ended, reflecting the connection Schemer had made with audiences. Born in Lynnfield on February 14, 1953, O'Connor graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1975 and pursued acting. In Boston, he co-founded the comedy troupe Slap Happy with fellow UMass graduate Allan Jacobs. With Jeff Ernstoff and Jan Kirschner joining the group, Slap Happy toured nationally, reached more than 200 universities and drew critical praise for performances in Boston, Cambridge and New York City. That comedy background gave O'Connor's early career its shape, but his work was not limited to sketches. During the Slap Happy tour, he appeared in a Ford's Theatre production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. His screen debut came with the recorded-live sketch special National Lampoon's Class of '86 in 1986. A guest appearance on Miami Vice followed, along with his feature-film debut as Biddle in Beverly Hills Cop II in 1987. O'Connor returned to New York in 1988 for the one-man show One Hour Out of Your Life at the Judith Anderson Theatre, where his performance received praise from New York Times critic Stephen Holden. After Shining Time Station, his work included the independent comedy Terrorists and the Geva Theatre Center's 2005 production of the solo play The Race of the Ark Tattoo. His path later moved beyond acting: O'Connor returned to school to become certified as a children's guidance counselor. In 2016, he also became vocalist and co-guitarist for the independent band The 6660s.