diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/OwningOpRef.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/OwningOpRef.h
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/OwningOpRef.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/OwningOpRef.h
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 #include <utility>
 
 namespace mlir {
+class Operation;
 
 /// This class acts as an owning reference to an op, and will automatically
 /// destroy the held op on destruction if the held op is valid.
@@ -51,6 +52,9 @@
   OpTy *operator->() { return &op; }
   explicit operator bool() const { return op; }
 
+  /// Downcast to generic operation.
+  operator OwningOpRef<Operation *>() && { return release().getOperation(); }
+
   /// Release the referenced op.
   OpTy release() {
     OpTy released(nullptr);
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/Tools/ParseUtilties.h b/mlir/include/mlir/Tools/ParseUtilties.h
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/Tools/ParseUtilties.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/Tools/ParseUtilties.h
@@ -28,9 +28,7 @@
                        bool insertImplicitModule) {
   if (insertImplicitModule) {
     // TODO: Move implicit module logic out of 'parseSourceFile' and into here.
-    return parseSourceFile<ModuleOp>(sourceMgr, config)
-        .release()
-        .getOperation();
+    return parseSourceFile<ModuleOp>(sourceMgr, config);
   }
   return parseSourceFile(sourceMgr, config);
 }