Actor from ‘A Christmas Story’ finds dead musician in Chicago hotel room
Photo: Peter Billingsley (right) stars in "A Christmas Story."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 the 1200 block of Seward Street in 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.
