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, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

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

and co-founder of the film studio HandMade Films.

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, 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 Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

and earned a JD from Washington University School of Law. 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 pr ...

'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''. Sellers featured on a number of hit comi ...

, 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 HandMade Films 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 biblical black comedy film starring and written by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Micha ...

'' after EMI Films, 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'', ''

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

'', ''The Missionary'', ''Mona Lisa'', '' Withnail and I'' and '' Nuns on the Run''. 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, songwriter, musician, screenwriter and playwright. He was a member of the British comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band the Rutles. Idle studied English at Pembroke Co ...

Monty Python Monty Python, also known as the Pythons, were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy ser ...

, Harrison wrote the unreleased song "Lyin' O'Brien" about his former manager. O'Brien filed for bankruptcy, 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 Northwestern University alumni Washington University School of Law alumni