Pat O'Brien (actor)

For other uses, see Pat O'Brien.

Pat O'Brien
Pat O'Brien, 1972
Born	William Joseph Patrick O’Brien November 11, 1899(1899-11-11) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Died	October 15, 1983(1983-10-15) (aged 83) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1930–82
Spouse	Eloise Taylor (1931-83; his death)

Pat O’Brien (November 11, 1899 – October 15, 1983) was an American film actor with more than one hundred screen credits.

Early life

O’Brien was born William Joseph Patrick O’Brien to an Irish-American Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served as an altar boy at Gesu Church while growing up near 13th and Clybourn streets. O’Brien attended Marquette Academy with fellow actor Spencer Tracy, and later attended Marquette University. Reportedly, he also served with Jack Benny at Great Lakes Naval Station during World War I.^{[citation needed]}

Career

James Cagney and O’Brien in Angels With Dirty Faces (1938), the sixth of the nine features they made together

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O’Brien appeared with James Cagney in nine feature films, including Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) and Cagney’s last film, Ragtime (1981). The two originally met in 1926 and became lifelong friends. O'Brien began appearing in movies (many times playing Irish cops or priests) in the 1930s, starting with the role of ace reporter Hildy Johnson in the original version of The Front Page in 1931. He appeared in the successful 1946 suspense film, Crack-Up, and played the lead in the boxing film, The Personality Kid.

O’Brien may be best remembered for his role as a police detective opposite George Raft in Some Like It Hot and the title role of a football coach in Knute Rockne, All American (1940), where he gave the speech to “win just one for the Gipper,” referring to recently deceased football player, George Gipp, portrayed in the film by a young Ronald W. Reagan.

O’Brien’s movie career more or less ended in the early 1950s. He still managed to get work in television; O’Brien later claimed to be completely flummoxed about this in his autobiography The Wind At My Back. His close friend, Spencer Tracy, had to fight the studio to get a small role for O’Brien in Tracy’s film The Last Hurrah in 1958. On April 4, 1957, he guest starred in the first season of the NBC variety program, The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford. In the 1960—1961 television season, O’Brien joined Roger Perry in the 34-episode ABCsitcom, Harrigan and Son, about a father-and-son team of lawyers.

O’Brien had a small role as Burt Reynolds’ father in the 1978 comedy film The End, opposite Myrna Loy, who played Reynolds’ mother.

Family

O’Brien and his wife had four children: Sean, Terry, Brigid, and Mavourneen. Three of his four children were adopted.

Death

Pat O’Brien died from a heart attack, aged 83.

Filmography

Features:

• Honor Among Lovers (1931)
• The Front Page (1931)
• Personal Maid (1931)
• Flying High (1931)
• Consolation Marriage (1931)
• Hell's House (1932)
• Scandal for Sale (1932)
• The Strange Case of Clara Deane (1932)
• Hollywood Speaks (1932)
• American Madness (1932)
• Virtue (1932)
• Airmail (1932)
• Laughter in Hell (1933)
• Destination Unknown (1933)
• The World Gone Mad (1933)
• Bureau of Missing Persons (1933)
• Flaming Gold (1933)
• Bombshell (1933)
• College Coach (1933)
• I've Got Your Number (1934)
• Gambling Lady (1934)
• Twenty Million Sweethearts (1934)
• Here Comes the Navy (1934)
• The Personality Kid (1934)
• Flirtation Walk (1934)
• I Sell Anything (1934)
• Devil Dogs of the Air (1935)
• In Caliente (1935)
• Oil for the Lamps of China (1935)
• The Irish in Us (1935)
• Page Miss Glory (1935)
• Stars Over Broadway (1935)
• Ceiling Zero (1936)
• I Married a Doctor (1936)
• Public Enemy's Wife (1936)
• China Clipper (1936)
• The Great O'Malley (1937)
• Slim (1937)
• San Quentin (1937)
• Back in Circulation (1937)
• Submarine D-1 (1937)
• Women Are Like That (1938)
• Panamint's Bad Man (1938)
• Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938)
• Boy Meets Girl (1938)
• Garden of the Moon (1938)
• Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
• Off the Record (1939)

• The Kid from Kokomo (1939)
• Indianapolis Speedway (1939)
• The Night of Nights (1939)
• Slightly Honorable (1940)
• The Fighting 69th (1940)
• Castle on the Hudson (1940)
• 'Til We Meet Again (1940)
• Torrid Zone (1940)
• Escape to Glory (1940)
• Flowing Gold (1940)
• Knute Rockne, All American (1940)
• Doomed Caravan (1941)
• Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie (1941)
• Two Yanks in Trinidad (1942)
• Broadway (1942)
• Flight Lieutenant (1942)
• The Navy Comes Through (1942)
• Bombardier (1943)
• The Iron Major (1943) - Frank Cavanaugh -football coach
• His Butler's Sister (1943)
• Marine Raiders (1944)
• Secret Command (1944)
• Having Wonderful Crime (1945)
• Man Alive (1945)
• Perilous Holiday (1946)
• Crack-Up (1946)
• Riffraff (1947)
• Fighting Father Dunne (1948)
• The Boy with Green Hair (1948)
• A Dangerous Profession (1949)
• Johnny One-Eye (1950)
• The Fireball (1950)
• Criminal Lawyer (1951)
• The People Against O'Hara (1951)
• Okinawa (1952)
• Jubilee Trail (1954)
• Ring of Fear (1954)
• Inside Detroit (1956)
• Kill Me Tomorrow (1957)
• The Last Hurrah (1958)
• Some Like It Hot (1959)
• Town Tamer (1965)
• The Phynx (1970) (Cameo)
• The Sky's the Limit (1975)
• Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977)
• The End (1978)
• Ragtime (1981)

Short Subjects:

• Compliments of the Season (1930)
• A Dream Comes True (1935)
• A Trip Thru a Hollywood Studio (1935)
• Swingtime in the Movies (1938)
• Out Where the Stars Begin (1938)
• Screen Snapshots: Famous Fathers and Sons (1946)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood's Happy Homes (1949)
• Screen Snapshots: Motion Picture Mothers, Inc. (1949)
• Screen Snapshots: Hopalong in Hoppy Land (1951)
• Screen Snapshots: Memorial to Al Jolson (1952)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Mothers and Fathers (1955)
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Beauty (1955)

Television work

• Place the Face (CBS television series, March 11, 1954)
• Crossroads (three episodes, 1955–1957)
• What's My Line? (10/13/1957) (Episode #384) (Season 9, Ep 7) Mystery Guest.
• Joyful Hour (1960)
• Harrigan and Son (1960–1961)
• The Over-the-Hill Gang (1969)
• Welcome Home, Johnny Bristol (1972)
• Adventures of Nick Carter (1972) (unsold pilot)
• Kiss Me, Kill Me (1976)
• Scout's Honor (1980)
• WKRP In Cincinnati (1981)
• Happy Days (1982)

External links

• Pat O'Brien at the Internet Movie Database
• Pat O'Brien at the Internet Broadway Database
• Pat O'Brien at AllRovi
• Pat O'Brien at the TCM Movie Database
• Pat O'Brien at Find a Grave