Actor from ‘A Christmas Story’ finds dead musician in Chicago hotel room
By Rosemary Sobol and Bill Zwecker Staff Reporters August 22, 2011 5:20PM
Peter Billingsley (right) stars in "A Christmas Story."
Updated: November 3, 2011 4:56PM
The actor who played the role of young Ralphie in the classic movie “A Christmas Story” found the dead body of a successful singer/songwriter in a Chicago hotel room over the weekend.
Peter Billingsley-Michaelsen, who has gone on to a highly successful career as a Hollywood producer, found the body of John O’Brien, 42, on a bed in a room at the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel Chicago, authorities said. O’Brien was staying at the hotel.
His death appeared to be from a drug overdose, police said, although an autopsy performed Sunday was inconclusive. Autopsy results were labeled “pending toxicology results.”
Billingsley-Michaelsen, who has worked with O’Brien on several films, had a meeting with him Saturday, police said. He found O’Brien dead on a bed and called 911 at 5:25 p.m. Saturday. The hotel is located at 163 E. Walton.
“I have no comment,” Billingsley-Michaelsen said when reached Sunday night.
O’Brien, of Los Angeles, was last seen alive when he was dropped off in front of the hotel at 4:50 a.m. Saturday by friends, police said.
Billingsley-Michaelsen, who starred in the 1983 hit “A Christmas Story,” has long partnered with Chicago-area native Vince Vaughn.
O’Brien has worked closely with both Billingsley-Michaelsen and Vaughn on a number of their films.
O’Brien was a successful singer and songwriter who is credited with songs or musical scores of such Vaughn/Billingsley films as “Made,” “Four Christmases,” “Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show” and “The Break-Up.”
An investigation into his death is ongoing.
Rosemary Sobol and Bill Zwecker
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