Denis O'Brien (September 12, 1941 – December 3, 2021) was an American attorney, best-known as the business manager of

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

and co-founder of the film studio

HandMade Films HandMade Films was a British film production and distribution company. Notable films from the studio include ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'', ''Time Bandits'', ''The Long Good Friday'' and ''Withnail and I''. History Foundation HandMade Fil ...

Biography

O'Brien was born on September 12, 1941, and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Ruth O'Brien and Albert James O'Brien. Albert was Vice Chairman of the Board at

Ralston Purina Ralston Purina Company was a St. Louis, Missouri,–based American conglomerate with substantial holdings in animal feed, food, pet food, consumer products, and entertainment. On December 12, 2001, it merged with Swiss food-giant Nestlé's Fri ...

, and also Chairman of the Board of Union Bank of Illinois, Union Illinois Company, and the State Bank of Jerseyville, Illinois, a bank that he gained control of in 1974. Denis became President and CEO of the bank in 1997, but was ousted two years later by the bank's board "after his business strategy proved too aggressive for the board of directors". O'Brien attended Northwestern University and earned a JD from Washington University in St. Louis. He lived in Paris from 1968 through 1970, where he worked for the prestigious law firm Coudert Frères/Coudert Brothers. He then moved to London for a position with the Rothschild banking group. His two daughters by his first wife, Kristen and Laura O'Brien, were born in London. O'Brien met George Harrison when the former Beatle was looking to extricate himself from

Allen Klein Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 July 4, 2009) was an American businessman whose aggressive negotiation tactics affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased profits ...

's management. He was introduced to Harrison by

Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs ...

, one of the financial clients O'Brien successfully helped by turning around his flailing career in 1974 when Sellers signed on to make '' The Return of the Pink Panther''. O'Brien helped the former Beatle sort out his mounting tax issues after becoming his manager in 1973."George"
''The Independent'', 28 October 1995 Their partnership was initially founded on mutual admiration. Harrison said of O'Brien, "In 20 minutes, he gets more from a budget sheet than most people do in 20 hours", while O'Brien recalled of their first meeting: "The chairman of Shell, of RTZ, of IBM, of Ford – I've met all these people and I've never met anyone as together as George." Harrison and O'Brien founded the film production company

in 1978 to finance the completion of ''

Monty Python's Life of Brian ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (also known as ''Life of Brian'') is a 1979 British comedy film starring and written by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin). It wa ...

'' after

EMI Films EMI Films was a British film studio and distributor. A subsidiary of the EMI conglomerate, the corporate name was not used throughout the entire period of EMI's involvement in the film industry, from 1969 to 1986, but the company's brief conne ...

, the original backers, pulled out at the last moment. O'Brien ran HandMade Films, as well as acting as executive producer for ''Life of Brian'', and later productions such as ''

The Long Good Friday ''The Long Good Friday'' is a 1980 British gangster film directed by John Mackenzie from a screenplay by Barrie Keeffe, starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren. Set in London, the storyline weaves together events and concerns of the late 1970s, ...

'', ''

Time Bandits ''Time Bandits'' is a 1981 British fantasy adventure film co-written, produced, and directed by Terry Gilliam. It stars Sean Connery, John Cleese, Shelley Duvall, Ralph Richardson, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, Peter Vaughan and ...

'', ''The Missionary'', ''Mona Lisa'', ''

Withnail and I ''Withnail and I'' is a 1987 British black comedy film written and directed by Bruce Robinson. Loosely based on Robinson's life in London in the late 1960s, the plot follows two unemployed actors, Withnail and "I" (portrayed by Richard E. Gran ...

'' and ''

Nuns on the Run ''Nuns on the Run'' is a 1990 British comedy film starring Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane, also featuring Camille Coduri and Janet Suzman. The film was written and directed by Jonathan Lynn and produced by HandMade Films. Many of the outdoor scen ...

''. The company ceased operations in 1991 and was sold three years later to Paragon Entertainment, a Canadian corporation. Harrison brought a lawsuit against O'Brien in Los Angeles in January 1995, claiming O'Brien had deprived him of £16 million over a 12-year period. The court found that O'Brien had mismanaged HandMade and ruled that he should pay Harrison $11 million. He was subsequently instructed to pay Harrison £6.7 million in damages. Harrison felt betrayed by O'Brien, whom he considered a close family friend. According to

Eric Idle Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. Idle was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band The Rutles, and is the writer of the music and lyrics for the Broadwa ...

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

, Harrison wrote the unreleased song "Lyin' O'Brien" about his former manager. O'Brien filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

, while Harrison sued O'Brien in bankruptcy court without success. In August 2001, the judge dismissed the case because Harrison failed to appear for a deposition, and also dismissed Harrison's claim that his poor health had prevented him from doing so. Harrison died of lung cancer three months later on November 29, 2001. O'Brien died on December 3, 2021, at the age of 80.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Denis 1941 births 2021 deaths American film producers American lawyers