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Mark O'Brien (July 31, 1949 – July 4, 1999) was an American journalist, poet, and advocate for the disabled. He has been the subject of two films: ''
Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien'', which won an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
in 1997, and ''
The Sessions'' in which he was portrayed by
John Hawkes, a film that won the audience award in the U.S. Dramatic category at the
Sundance Film Festival in 2012.
''The Sessions'' was based on his essay, "On Seeing a Sex Surrogate",
[Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...]
'' magazine in 1990. The sex surrogate was
Cheryl Cohen-Greene
Cheryl Cohen-Greene (born September 9, 1944) is an American sexual surrogate partner, speaker, and author, known for her work with American poet Mark O'Brien in 1986, before his death in 1999. She was portrayed in the film '' The Sessions'' by H ...
.
They remained friends until his death.
Personal life
O'Brien contracted
polio
Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...
in 1955 and spent the rest of his life paralyzed and requiring an
iron lung
An iron lung is a type of negative pressure ventilator (NPV), a mechanical respirator which encloses most of a person's body, and varies the air pressure in the enclosed space, to stimulate breathing.Shneerson, Dr. John M., Newmarket Genera ...
.
In the iron lung he attended
UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...
, produced his poetry and articles, and became an advocate for disabled people.
He co-founded a small publishing house, Lemonade Factory, dedicated to poetry written by people with disabilities. He was featured in two segments of the radio program "
This American Life
''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internatio ...
" where he spoke about the occasional opportunities he had to leave the iron lung for short periods of time, trying to find love, and sex.
O'Brien was the author of several volumes of poetry, including ''Breathing'', and an autobiography entitled, ''How I Became a Human Being: A Disabled Man’s Quest for Independence'',
written with Gillian Kendall.
O'Brien began seeing a sex surrogate at the age of thirty-eight to lose his virginity. That and the later meeting of him and his life partner, Susan Fernbach, is depicted in the film ''The Sessions''. The sex surrogate was named Cheryl Cohen-Greene.
They remained friends until his death.
Education
O'Brien received a bachelor's degree in English literature and a master's degree in journalism, both from the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
.
References
External links
*
This American Life - The Drama Bug Act 3, "From the Audience Seats"
This American Life - Defying SicknessAct 3, "Iron Man"
"Breathing" (poem)Mark O'Brien
at Poetry Foundation
University of California, Berkeley alumni
People with polio
Writers from Boston
1949 births
1999 deaths
20th-century American poets
American male journalists
20th-century American journalists
American male poets
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
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