John Dennis Patrick O'Brian (August 16, 1914 – November 5, 2000) was an American entertainment journalist best known for his longtime role as a television critic for ''
New York Journal American''.
Career
A supporter of Senator
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican Party (United States), Republican United States Senate, U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death at age ...
,
O'Brian wrote a series of
red-baiting
Red-baiting, also known as ''reductio ad Stalinum'' () and red-tagging ( in the Philippines), is an intention to discredit the validity of a political opponent and the opponent's logical argument by accusing, denouncing, attacking, or persecuting ...
attacks on
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...
and
WCBS TV reporter
Don Hollenbeck,
accusing him of having Communist sympathies. These attacks were a major factor in Hollenbeck's eventual suicide in 1954, and are referenced in the 1986 film ''
Murrow'' and the 2005 film ''
Good Night, and Good Luck
''Good Night, and Good Luck'' (stylized as ''good night, and good luck.'') is a 2005 historical drama film directed by George Clooney from a screenplay by Clooney and Grant Heslov. It stars David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson, Clooney, Jeff D ...
''.
After the death of
Dorothy Kilgallen, his colleague at the ''Journal American'', in November 1965, O'Brian took over her old ''Voice of Broadway'' column.
Personal life and death
O'Brian was married to Yvonne Johnston, who died in 1996. They were the parents of two daughters, Bridget and
Kate O'Brian, who was president of
Al Jazeera America.
References
External links
* *
Finding aid to the Jack O’Brian papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
American television critics
McCarthyism
Writers from Buffalo, New York
Journalists from Buffalo, New York
Journalists from New York City
1914 births
2000 deaths
20th-century American writers
20th-century American journalists
American male journalists
New York Journal-American people
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