Eugene O'Brien (actor)
| Eugene O'Brien | |
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| File:Eugene O Brien 1920.jpg
In 1920
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| Born | Louis O'Brien November 14, 1880 Boulder, Colorado |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Los Angeles, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Colorado at Boulder |
| Occupation | Stage, film actor |
Eugene O'Brien (November 14, 1880 – April 29, 1966) was an American silent film star and stage actor.
Biography
He was born Louis O'Brien on November 14, 1880 in Boulder, Colorado.
He studied medicine at the University of Colorado at Boulder but was keener on the stage than becoming a doctor. O'Brien switched to civil engineering under his family's guidance, but his heart was still set on becoming an actor. He moved to New York City and was "discovered" by theatrical impresario Charles Frohman who signed O'Brien to a three-year contract and put him in The Builder of Bridges, which opened on Broadway at the Hudson Theatre on October 26, 1909.[1][2]
O'Brien made his name playing opposite Ethel Barrymore, in a revival of Sir Arthur Wing Pinero's play Trelawny of the 'Wells', which opened at the Empire Theatre on New Year's Day, 1911.
O'Brien's first film, Essanay Film's The Lieutenant Governor, in which he had the starring role, played in Boulder's Curran Theater in February 1915, giving his family its first opportunity to see him act.[3][4] World Film Corp. chief executive Lewis J. Selznick made O'Brien a screen star, putting him in an adaptation of Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone. Subsequently he was leading man opposite some of the leading female stars of the day, including Mary Pickford, Norma Talmadge and Gloria Swanson and became a silent screen matinée idol.
He retired from acting when the talkies came in, making his last film, Faithless Lover, in 1928 at 47 years old. He died on April 29, 1966 in Los Angeles, California.
Legacy
For his work on movies, he received a "Star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Selected filmography
- The Scarlet Woman (1916)
- The Rise of Susan (1916)
- By Right of Purchase (1918)
- Under the Greenwood Tree (1918)
- Come Out of the Kitchen (1919)
- The Perfect Lover (1919)
- The Wonderful Chance (1920)
- A Fool and His Money (1920)
- Channing of the Northwest (1922)
- John Smith (1922)
- The Voice from the Minaret (1923)
- Secrets (1924)
- The Only Woman (1924)
- Fine Manners (1926)
- Flames (1926)
- The Romantic Age (1927)
- Faithless Lover (1928)
References
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eugene O'Brien. |
- Eugene O'Brien at the Internet Movie Database
- Eugene O'Brien at the Internet Broadway DatabaseLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Eugene O'Brien photos ; University of Washington, Sayre collection
- Eugene O'Brien at Virtual History
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with hCards
- Commons category link is locally defined
- 1880 births
- 1966 deaths
- American male film actors
- American male silent film actors
- American male stage actors
- Male actors from Boulder, Colorado
- Gay actors
- 20th-century American male actors
- University of Colorado alumni
- Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
