PEOPLE NOVEMBER 15, 1999

oh, BROTHER!  Jerry and Charlie O'Connell

Since they slept on matching Popeye sheets in their family's Manhattan home, actors Jerry (standing) and Charlie O'Connell have been inseparable.  When Jerry, 25 (Scream 2, Body Shots), landed his first acting break at age 11 in 1986's Stand by Me, Charlie, then 10, spent the summer with him on location in Oregon.  And after moving in 1996 to Hollywood, whre they
 share an apartment, they worked side by side on TV's Sliders and even double-dated - with a pair of sisters.  "It was crazy," recalls Charlie, 24.  "He broke up with the younger sister, and then all I would hear about was what a jerk my brother was." Needless to say, it didn't last.

Charlie:  At home we had beds right next to each other.
Jerry: Like, a foot apart.  Every night it was "Hey, Charlie."  "Yeah?"  "You asleep?"  "No. You?"  "No." "Cool." "Good night."  And in L.A., now that we live together, it's kind of like the same thing again, except that we have our own rooms.  
Charlie:  My fencing trophies would keep him up at night because of the gleam.
Jerry:  When we were younger, I was not as athletic as my brother, but I came into my own.  I'm pretty athletic now.  
Charlie:  Jerry liked to wrestle when the parents were around because then they could get me off of him.  
Jerry:  We'd draw imaginary lines down the backseat of the car.  
Charlie:  Like on The Brady Bunch, where they separated the room...  
Jerry:  We never fought a lot, though.  
Charlie:  We'd argue with each other up until we got out of the car for summer camp, and then it was "Nobody insults my brother!"  
Jerry:  Yeah.  We looked out for each other.  It was sort of like we were a team.... Girls really weren't an issue.  
Charlie:  I Think I was a late bloomer with girls.  Jerry:  College, college for you.  Charlie:  High school, I think, actually.  Thank you, Jerry.  
Jerry:  We'll go on dates together most of the time.

Jerry - "I like everything to be neat where we live.  
Charlie couldn't care less."

Charlie:  I would never go out with someone who dated my brother, though.  Forget it. 
Jerry:  One one time in high school you made out with Megan I-forget-her-last-name when I was a junior.  I was kind of going for her, and you made out  with her.  And I was genuinely excited for you.  Better you than someone else.  
Charlie:  I find my girls to be more fun than his [laughs].  They like to go out and have a much better time.  The girls that Jerry goes out with are more quiet.  
Jerry:  Charlie is very much the strong, silent type.  He has the ability to go to a party or to a bar and stand in the corner and not say anything.  I have more of a tendency to yap.  
Charlie:  When something amuses me, I'll go off, but I am quiet.  
Jerry:  We talk to each other every day, sometimes for two minutes, sometimes for two hours.  I could be in bed at 2 a.m. and say, "Charlie, are you asleep?" "No."  "Great, I'll meet you in  the living room."  
Charlie:  We give each other advice about everything.  
Jerry:  Occasionally we'll get into a tiff over something like laundry.  I like everything to be neat where we live.  Charlie couldn't care less.  
Charlie:  Dude, the house is immaculate now.  
Jerry:  No, it's not.  It's not that I'm this little prissy guy running around the house dusting after people.  I just like to have some sense of organization.  He's such a slob.  
Charlie:  The place is immaculate!  
Jerry:  By the way, we wear all the same clothes.  We wear the same sizes, and we buy things together.  
Charlie:  When he leaves, I'll come across a couple of things missing.  But we do share everything.  Jerry:  Moving out to L.A. together really helped.  You want to be accepted in this scary town.  But to have my brother here was like, "who cares?  This is great."

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