Men Of Character Character Star
Edmond O'Brien
White Heat/ Vic Pardo
The Killers/ Jim Reardon
D. O. A. / Frank Bigelow
A Cry In The Night/ Capt. Dan Taggart
Per Quinlan's Film Stars:
Heavy cheeked, burly, careworn looking American actor, in leading parts almost from the beginning of his career, who gave everything and sometimes a little more to his roles.
His real name was Redmond O'Brien and he was born in 1915 at New York City, NY.
O'Brien learned his craft first as a magician ( supposedly tutored by his neighbor Houdini) and then on to student theater in high school. He majored in drama at Columbia University.
His debut on Broadway occurred at age 21 and then he played to part of the gravedigger in John Gielgud's production of Hamlet. O,Brien woud later on play the role of Mercutio to Lawrence Olivier's Hamlet on Broadway in 1940.
He was brought to Hollywood by Pandro Berman and made his film debut as Gringiore in the 1939 film The Hunchback Of Notre Dame.
Some of the film roles of Edmond O'Brien were:
The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1939) as Gringoire
A Girl, A Guy And A Gob (1941) as Stephen Herrick
Parachute Battalion (1941) as Bill Burke
Obliging Young Lady (`942) as Red Reddy aka Professor Stanley
Powder Town (1942) as Penji Pennant
The Amazing Mrs. Holiday (1943) as Tom Holiday
Winged Victory (1944) as Irving Miller
The Killers (1946) as Jim Reardon
The Web (1947) as Bob Regan
A Double Life (1947) as Bill Friend
Another Part Of The Forest (1948) as Ben Hubbard
For The Love Of Mary (1948) as Lt. Tom Farrington
Fighter Squadron (1948) as Major Ed Hardin
An Act Of Mercy (1948) as Dave Douglas
White Heat (1949) as Hank Fallon/ Vic Pardo
Backfire (1950) as Steve Connelley
D. O. A. (1950) as Frank Bigelow
711 Ocean Drive (1950) as Mal Granger
The Admiral Was A Lady (1950) as Jimmy Stevens
Between Midnight And Dawn (1950) as Officer Dan Purvis
The Redhead And The Cowboy (1951) as Major Dunn Jeffers
Two Of A Kind (1951) as Michael "Lefty" Farrell
Warpath (1951) as John Vickers
Silver City (1951) as Larkin Moffatt
Denver And The Rio Grande (1952) as Jim Vesser
The Turning Point (1952) as John Conroy
The Hitch Hiker (1953) as Roy Collins
Man In The Dark (1953) as Steve Rawley
Cow Country (1953) as Ben Anthony
Julius Caesar (1953) as Casca
China Venture (1953) as Capt. Matt Reardon
The Bigamist (1953) as Harry Graham/ Harrison Graham
The Shanghai Story (1954) as Dr. Dan Maynard
Shield For Murder (1954) as Detective Lt. Barney Nolan
The Barefoot Contessa (1954) as Oscar Muldoon
Pete Kelly's Blues (1955) as Fran McCarg
1984 (1956) as Winston Smith Of The Outer Party
D Day The Sixth Of June (1956) as Lt. Col. Alexander Timmer
A Cry In The Night (1956) as Capt. Dan Taggart
The Rack (1956) as Lt. Col. Frank Wasnick
The Girl Can't Help It (1956) as Marty "Fats" Murdock
The Big Land (1957) as Joe Jagger
Stopover Tokyo (1957) as George Underwood
The World Was His Jury (1958) as David Carson
Sing Boy Sing (1958) as Joseph Sharkey
Up Periscope (1959) as Commander Paul Stevenson
The Ambitious One (1959) as Mike Buchanan
The Last Voyage (1960) as Second Engineer Walsh
The Great Imposter (1961) as Capt. Glover - HMCS Cayuga
Moon Pilot (1962) as McClosky aka Mac
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) as Dutton Peabody
Birdman Of Alcatraz (1962) as Tom Gaddis
The Longest Day (1962) as Gen. Raymond Barton
Seven Days In May (1964) as Senator Raymond Clark
Rio Conchos (1964) as Col. Theron Pardee
The Hanged Man (1964-TV) as Arnie Seegar
Sylvia (1965) as Oscar Stewart
Synanon (1965) as Chuck Dederich
Fantastic Voyage (1966) as General Carter
The Doomsday Flight (1966-TV) as The Man
The Viscount (1967) as Ricco Barone
To Commit A Murder (1967) as Splax
The Outsider (1967-TV) as Marvin Bishop
Flesh And Blood (1968-TV) as Harry
The Wild Bunch (1969) as Freddie Sykes
The Love God? (1969) as Osborn Tremaine
The Intruders (1970) as Capt. William Bodeen
Dream No Evil (1970) as Timothy MacDonald
River Of Mystery (1971-TV) as R. J. Twitchell
What's A Nice Girl Like You........? (1971) as Morton Stillman
Jigsaw (1972) as Detective, Ed Burtelson
They Only Kill Their Masters (1972) as George
Isn't It Shocking? (1973-TV) as Justin Oates
Lucky Luciano (1973) as Commissioner Anslinger
99 and 44/100% Dead (1974) as Uncle Frank
He won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance as Oscar Muldoon in The Barefoot Contessa.
Edmond O'Brien starred in two prime time TV series:
Sam Benedict (1962 - 1963) as Sam Benedict
Johnny Midnight (1960) as Johnny Midnight
Other television programs that Mr. O'Brien appeared in were Prize Playhouse, Robert Montgomery Presents, The Ford Television Theater, Stage 7, The Red Skelton Hour, Damon Runyon Theater, Playwrights '56, The Star And The Story, Screen Directors Playhouse, Climax!, Lux Video Theater, Schlitz Playhouse Of Stars, Suspicion, Lux Playhouse, Playhouse 90, Laramie, The Dick Powell Theater, Target The Corruptors, Breaking Point, The Eleventh Hour, Walt Disney's Wonderful World Of Color, The Long Hot Summer, The Virginian, The Outsider, Mission Impossible, It Takes A Thief, The Bold Ones - The Protectors, Insight, The Young Lawyers, The Name Of The Game, The High Chaparral, Cade's County, The Streets Of San Francisco, McMillan & Wife, The New Temperatures Rising Show and Police Story.
Mr. O'Brien was a German Shepherd aficionado and owned many of these dogs over the years.
He was married twice. His wives were both actresses. His first wife was Nancy Kelly and his second wife was Olga San Juan. Both marriages ended in divorce but he had three children from his marriage to San Juan.
Edmond O'Brien passed away in 1985 from Alzheimer's disease.
This was one great actor.
My favorite O'Brien films were The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Fighter Squadron, Warpath, The Hitch Hiker, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Wild Bunch, Denver & The Rio Grande, Fantastic Voyage, White Heat, D. O. A., A Cry In The Night, The Last Voyage, Rio Conchos and Man In The Dark.
Louie The Movie Buff