George O'Brien (April 19, 1899 – September 4, 1985) was an American actor, popular during the

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

era and into the sound film era of the 1930s. He is best known today as the lead actor in F. W. Murnau's 1927 Academy Award-winning film '' Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans''. O'Brien also starred in a number of Westerns in the 1930s and 1940s, including roles in 14 films under director David Howard and 10 with acclaimed-filmmaker

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), better known as John Ford, was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and w ...

Early life

O'Brien was born in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, the oldest son of Daniel J. and Margaret L. (née Donahue) O'Brien; O'Brien's father later became the chief of police for the City of San Francisco. (Dan O'Brien ordered the arrest of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in September 1921 at the scandalous

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

party held by Arbuckle.) In 1917, O'Brien enlisted in the United States Navy to fight in World War I, serving on a submarine chaser. He volunteered to act as a stretcher bearer for wounded Marines and was decorated for bravery. After the war, O'Brien became Light Heavyweight boxing champion of the Pacific Fleet.

Career

O'Brien came to Hollywood in his early 20s, hoping to become a cameraman. He worked as an assistant cameraman for both

Tom Mix Thomas Edwin Mix (born Thomas Hezikiah Mix; January 6, 1880 – October 12, 1940) was an American film actor and the star of many early Western (genre), Western films between 1909 and 1935. He appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were s ...

and Buck Jones. He began his acting career in bit parts and as a stuntman. One of his early roles was in the 1922

George Melford George H. Melford (born George Henry Knauff, February 19, 1877 – April 25, 1961) was an American stage and film actor and director. Often taken for granted as a director today, the stalwart Melford's name by the 1920s was, like Cecil B. DeMil ...

-directed drama ''Moran of the Lady Letty'', most notable for starring

Rudolph Valentino Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor who starred in several well-known sile ...

. In 1924, O'Brien received his first starring role in the drama ''The Man Who Came Back'' with the English actress Dorothy Mackaill. The same year, he was chosen by

to star in '' The Iron Horse'' with actress Madge Bellamy. The film was an immense success at the box office, and O'Brien made nine more films for Ford. In 1927, he starred in the F. W. Murnau-directed '' Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans'' with Janet Gaynor, which won three major

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

and remains his most famous film, and he played the lead in the epic '' East Side, West Side''. O'Brien spent the remainder of the 1920s as an extremely popular leading man in films, often starring in action and adventure roles with popular actresses of the era, such as Alma Rubens, Anita Stewart, Dolores Costello, Madge Bellamy, Olive Borden (with whom he was linked romantically during the 1920s), and Janet Gaynor. With the advent of sound, O'Brien displayed a strong, confident voice and remained a leading star of westerns and outdoor adventures. In 1938, he signed with

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

to headline a western series; O'Brien (often atop his horse Mike) was well received and was ranked consistently among the top 10 cowboy stars. During this series of westerns, he starred with Actress Virginia Vale on six occasions and with Actor

Chill Wills Theodore Childress "Chill" Wills (July 18, 1902 – December 15, 1978) was an American actor and a singer in the Avalon Boys quartet. Early life Wills was born in Seagoville, Texas, on July 18, 1902. Career Wills was a performer from early c ...

five times. The RKO series was stopped at 17 movies when O'Brien re-enlisted in the Navy; he was replaced by RKO with Tim Holt who had a longer association with RKO than O'Brien.

Military service

During World War II, O'Brien served as a beachmaster in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

, and was decorated several times. He left service with the rank of commander. He later joined the United States Naval Reserve and retired with the rank of captain in 1962, having four times been recommended for the rank of admiral. Following his service in World War II, O'Brien occasionally took featured parts in films directed by

, including '' Fort Apache'', '' She Wore a Yellow Ribbon'', and '' Cheyenne Autumn''. O'Brien's last leading role was in the 1951 movie '' Gold Raiders'', with O'Brien handling the action and the Three Stooges' (

Shemp Howard Shemp Howard (born Samuel Horwitz; March 11, 1895 – November 22, 1955) was an American comedian and actor. He is best known as the third Stooge in The Three Stooges, a role he played when the act began in the early 1920s (1923–1932), while i ...

Larry Fine Louis Feinberg (October 4, 1902 – January 24, 1975), better known by his stage name Larry Fine, was an American actor, comedian and musician. He is best known as a member of the comedy act the Three Stooges and was often called "The Middle St ...

, and Moe Howard) doing comedy routines. While serving in the Naval Reserve, O'Brien took on a project for the Department of Defense as part of President Eisenhower's "People to People" program. He was project officer for a series of orientation films on three Asian countries. One of these films, '' This Is Korea'', was directed by John Ford. p. 241 Matheson, Sue ''The John Ford Encyclopedia'' Rowman & Littlefield Publishers 15 December 2019 The other two countries covered were Formosa (Taiwan) and the Philippines.

Personal life

In the 1920s, O'Brien dated actress Olive Borden for many years, and most thought they would marry. For some reason (some say his family did not approve of Olive), they ended their relationship and he eventually married actress Marguerite Churchill on July 15, 1933. Their first child, Brian, died 10 days after his birth. Daughter Orin O'Brien became a double bassist for the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the ''Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc.'', and globally known as the ''New York Philharmonic Orchestra'' (NYPO) or the ''New Yo ...

. Their youngest child Darcy O'Brien was a successful writer and college professor. George and Marguerite divorced in 1948.

Later years and death

O'Brien suffered a stroke in 1981 and was bedridden the last four years of his life. He died in 1985 in

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma Broken Arrow is a city in Tulsa and Wagoner counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the largest suburb of Tulsa. According to the 2020 census, Broken Arrow has a population of 113,540 residents and is the 4th most populous city in the s ...

, a suburb of

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

. His son Darcy was a professor at the University of Tulsa. For his contribution to the movie industry, O'Brien was awarded a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...

at 6201 Hollywood Blvd. in Los Angeles.

Partial filmography

Awards

References

External links

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Photographs of George O'Brien
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, George 1899 births 1985 deaths American male film actors United States Navy personnel of World War I United States Navy personnel of World War II American male silent film actors Male actors from San Francisco United States Navy sailors United States Navy officers RKO Pictures contract players Male Western (genre) film actors 20th-century American male actors 1906 San Francisco earthquake survivors Military personnel from California