He was a leading man, once, but then turned into a great character actor, and then what could be considered a a combination of the two or a “character leading man.”
But those who caught his starring performance in the 1950 suspense thriller D.O.A. (that’s Dead On Arrival for the uninitiated) will not easily forget Edmond O’Brien. In almost every sense, he is the engine that kept this dark this tale — of a man trying to solve his own murder — hurdling along.
He frantically lunges in and out of rooms…He skitters and slides down hallways …O’Brien is so overheated he can’t stand still for a moment, lest he drown in a pool of sweat, writes film noir specialist Eddie Muller.
This isn’t a complaint. When directed to play it straight…O’Brien acted the ideal Everyman…But whenever the material threatened to go stiff , O’Brien could be counted on to shake and stir the batter. Faster than any actor, he could go from Average Joe to disheveled dervish, flapping his his prodigious pompadour around like an overgrown cock’s comb.
O’Brien’s noir resume was lengthy as was his film career in general, comprising some 120 screen and tv credits spread over three decades. And along the way O’Brien became no stranger to Academy Award consideration. (That’s a young O’Brien pictured below romancing Maureen O’Hara as Esmerelda in his first movie appearance in 1939’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame.)
Ok, on to our Edmond O’Brien Quiz. As usual, answers tomorrow.
1) Question: Although he worked in all manner of commercial studio films, O’Brien’s first professional preference was Shakespearean drama. a) True; b) False.
2) Question: A heart attack cost O’Brien a key role in which Academy Award winner? Hint: he was replaced by Arthur Kennedy. a) The Bridge on the River Kwai; b) Around the World in 80 Days; c) Lawrence of Arabia; or d) A Man For All Seasons.
3) Question: Which of the following titles was responsible for O’Brien’s best supporting actor Oscar win? a) Seven Days in May; b) The Barefoot Contessa; c) The Wild Bunch; or d) The other Side of the Wind.
4) Question: Two of O’Brien’s best movies, The Hitchhiker (see below)
and The Bigamist are often remarked on today because: a) Both pictures were self-financed by O’Brien; b) Both pictures cast black and Hispanic actors in key roles; c) Both films were directed by a woman, rare at the time; or d) None of the above.
5) Question: Late in his career (he died in 1985 at the age of 69) O’brien took on one of his most distinctive and memorable character roles in a classic western. Can you name the film’s title and its director?
1. Don’t know. Although he was in Julius Caesar, wasn’t he?
2. C. The character in question was a renamed Lowell Thomas. Thomas was four years younger than T. E. Lawrence.
3. B.
4. C. The great Ida Lupino.
5. If it was LATE in his career, must be Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch. But deep in the middle of his career was John Ford’s Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
From handsome boy ingenue in Hunchback of Notre Dame at 23, Mr. O’Brien aged into absolutely the most normal looking Average Joe in his 30’s. Thoroughly believable and real in almost everything I’ve seen.
For me, he was the first “face of Alzheimer’s” because his daughter spoke of his struggles and just the description of his last years is excruciating.
As he was only 69 at his death, it was clear that Alzheimer’s was not just restricted to “really old” people.
Joe & Frank have mentioned the great EDMOND O’BRIEN before, but have never given him the tribute he so rightly deserves, evidenced here by a really short unchallenging quiz…
1) A
2) C
3) B
4) C, Ida Lupino
5) THE WILD BUNCH, Sam Peckinpah
“I’ve never made any kind of personality success,” he admitted in a 1963 interview. “People never say ‘that’s an Eddie O’Brien part.’ They say, ‘That’s a part Eddie O’Brien can play.’ ”
His other notable films include THE KILLERS (1946), WHITE HEAT (1949), JULIUS CAESAR (1953), THE GIRL CAN’T HELP IT (1956), 1984 (1956), THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALENCE (1962), BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ (1962), THE LONGEST DAY (1962), SEVEN DAYS IN MAY (1964), FANTASTIC VOYAGE (1966), and THE WILD BUNCH (1969).
O’Brien did a lot of television, with his own notable lawyer show SAM BENEDICT.
The great actor experienced a variable weight problem dating back to the 1950’s, that was noticeable on screen…
In an interview, director Don Siegel recalled that during the production of CHINA VENTURE (1953), he noticed that O’Brien was spending more and more time in his trailer before a scene, and was beginning to arrive late for shooting, which he had never done before. Suspecting that O’Brien might be secretly drinking before he went on camera–an experience Siegel had undergone with several well-known actors he had worked with–the director peeked through the windows of O’Brien’s trailer one day and was surprised to see a young man reading O’Brien’s lines to him. It turned out that O’Brien’s eyesight and memory were beginning to fail him, he didn’t want the studio to find out and fire him, so he had his assistant read him his lines and stage directions immediately before he was to shoot a scene so he wouldn’t forget them on-camera…
O’Brien had a heart attack on the desert location of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and was replaced by Arthur Kennedy.
His decline in health was never more noticeable than in a 1972 episode of TV’s THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO, where although only 53 years old at the time, he looked much older as a beat cop near retirement.
But it was the dreaded slow death Altzheimer’s disease that would sadly take Edmond O’Brien’s life in May 1985, at age 69.
He was one of the best character actors HOLLYWOOD ever had, from learning his craft first as a magician from the legendary Harry Houdini, to a stage career to radio performances alongside another magician and lifelong friend Orson Welles… O’Brien indeed left his mark in so many fine performances…
Glad to see someone else COMMENTing…
p.s. EDMOND O’BRIEN made several movies for 20th Century-Fox… You might be interested in a great Los Angeles Times article from March 8th on the Disney-Fox buyout, that interviews those at Fox who worked there…
httpss://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-et-disney-fox-fox-oral-history-20190308-htmlstory.html