‘Lethal Weapon 2’ Villain Derrick O’Connor Dies at 77

Derrick O’Connor, a respected Irish actor who appeared as a villain in Lethal Weapon 2, has passed away at the age of 77.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, O’Connor died on June, 29 of pneumonia in Santa Barbara, California.

In Lethal Weapon 2 — likely his most recognizable role — O’Connor played Pieter Vorstedt the right-hand-man to Joss Ackland’s main villainous character Arjen Rudd.

Born in 1941, the long-time actor first started working as far back as the late ’60s, eventually landing his first major project in Jabberwocky, a 1977 film directed by Terry Gilliam and staring Michael Palin — both of Monty Python fame.

O’Connor would go on to appear in two more of Gilliam’s films; 1981’s Time Bandits (John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall) and 1985’s Brazil (Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Bob Hoskins).

After Brazil, O’Connor appeared in the critically acclaimed film British dramedy/war film Hope and Glory. That movie would go on to receive numerous award nominations, including multiple Oscar nods and the Golden Globe award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.

Next came 1989s Lethal Weapon 2, with O’Connor taking a few years off from film-acting afterwards, instead focusing on TV roles.

Throughout the early ’90s, O’Connor appeared in series such as Centrepoint, Screen One, Children of the North, and the iconic Murder, She Wrote.

He jumped back into movies in the mid-’90s with the novel-turned-feature film How to Make an American Quilt playing an artistic, albeit unfaithful, husband.

O’Connor next appeared in the 1998 action-horror flick Deep Rising, which starred Treat Williams and Famke Janssen trying to escape luxury cruise ship that is under attack by a sea monster.

The following year, he turned up in End of Days as Thomas Aquinas, a priest who sets off a chain of events that leads Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Jericho Cane to facing off against the literal Devil.

He would later play a priest again, in the 2003 Daredevil film starring Ben Affleck as the blind superhero. O’Connor’s final big-budget film would be the 2006 Disney movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

After that, the actor appeared in smaller films such as The Blue Hour and Man from Reno, eventually making his last on-screen appearance in the 2016 film Pushing Dead.

During his lengthy career, O’Connor also showed up in high-profile TV series such as Alias, Carnivale, Tracey Takes On, and Monk.

He is survived by his wife, Mimi, and his son, Max, as per The Hollywood Reporter. The outlet also reports that a private memorial honoring his life and legacy will be held in San Francisco.