Dave O'Brien (actor)

Dave O'Brien (born David Poole Fronabarger, May 31, 1912 – November 8, 1969) was an American film actor, director, and writer.

Life and career

Born in Big Spring, Texas, O'Brien started his film career performing in choruses and working as a stunt double before gradually winning larger roles, mostly in B pictures.

O'Brien was best known to movie audiences in the 1940s as the hero of the famous Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer comedy short film series ''Pete Smith Specialties'' narrated by Pete Smith. O'Brien wrote and directed many of these subjects under the name David Barclay. O'Brien also had a small dancing part with Bebe Daniels in the Busby Berkeley musical '' 42nd Street'' (1933).

He appeared in the first few of Monogram Pictures '' East Side Kids'' films, then appeared in many low-budget Westerns, such as Producers Releasing Corporation's ''Texas Rangers'' series, where he was often billed as "Tex" O'Brien, alluding to his home state.

He appeared in '' Queen of the Yukon'' (1940) as Bob Adams. In 1940, he appeared in '' The Devil Bat'' as part of a comedy team with Donald Kerr. They also appeared together in '' Son of the Navy'' (1940) and '' The Man Who Walked Alone'' (1945).

In 1942, O'Brien starred in the movie serial ''Captain Midnight'', and had the lead role in the Western '' Brand of the Devil'' in 1944.

One of his later roles was in the MGM musical version of '' Kiss Me, Kate'' (1953), a rare featured role for the actor in an 'A' list big-budget production.

To modern audiences, he is most likely best to be remembered as a frantic dope addict in the 1936 low-budget exploitation film ''Tell Your Children'' (better known under its reissue title, ''Reefer Madness''), yelling "Play it faster, play it faster!" to a piano-playing girl (Lillian Miles).

O'Brien married one of his co-stars of ''Reefer Madness'', Dorothy Short, in 1936, but they divorced in 1954 after having two children. In 1955, he married Nancy O'Brien and had three more children. A keen yachtsman, he died aged 57 of a heart attack aboard a 60-foot sloop named ''The White Cloud'' while competing in a yachting race off the California coast near Catalina Island. He apparently had been experiencing symptoms of cardiac problems for several weeks, but did not seek medical attention.

Recognition

As a writer for ''The Red Skelton Show'', O'Brien shared an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 1961 and shared a nomination for the same award in 1963.

Selected filmography

* ''Consolation Marriage'' (1931)
* '' The World Changes'' (1933) as Otto Peterson (uncredited)
* '' Bright Eyes'' (1934) as Bill
* ''Reefer Madness'' (1936)
* '' Rough Riding Rhythm'' (1937)
* '' Frontier Scout'' (1938) as Steven Norris
* '' Fighting Mad'' (1939) as Constable Kelly
* '' Flaming Lead'' (1939)
* '' Crashing Thru'' (1939)
* ''Main Street Lawyer'' (1939) (uncredited)
* '' East Side Kids'' (1940) as 'Knuckles' Dolan
* '' Boys of the City'' (1940) as 'Knuckles' Dolan
* '' That Gang of Mine'' (1940) as 'Knuckles' Dolan
* ''Gun Code'' (1940) as Gale
* '' The Devil Bat'' (1940) as Johnny Layton
* ''Isle of Destiny'' (1940) Navy Radio Man (uncredited)
* ''Phantom Rancher'' (1940) as Henchman Luke
* '' Son of the Navy'' (1940) as Chief Machinist's Mate
* '' Hold That Woman'' (1940) as Miles Hanover
* '' Sky Bandits'' (1940) as Constable Kelly
* ''Buzzy Rides the Range'' (1940) as Ken Blair
* '' Flying Wild'' (1941) as Tom Lawson
* ''Buzzy and the Phantom Pinto'' (1941)
* ''The Spider Returns'' (1941)
* ''Murder by Invitation'' (1941) as Michael, the Chauffeur
* ''Billy the Kid in Santa Fe'' (1941) as Texas Joe
* ''Billy the Kid Wanted'' (1941) as Jeff
* ''Spooks Run Wild'' (1941) as Jeff Dixon
* '' Double Trouble'' (1941) as Sparky Marshall
* ''Forbidden Trails'' (1941) as Jim Cramer
* ''Bowery at Midnight'' (1942) as Peter Crawford
* '' 'Neath Brooklyn Bridge'' (1942) as Sergeant Lyons
* ''Billy the Kid's Smoking Guns'' (1942) as Jeff Travis
* '' The Yanks Are Coming'' (1942) as Sgt. Callahan
* '' The Rangers Take Over'' (1942) as Tex Wyatt
* ''Bad Men of Thunder Gap'' (1943) as Tex Wyatt
* '' West of Texas'' (1943) as Tex Wyatt
* '' Border Buckaroos'' (1943) as Tex Wyatt
* ''Fighting Valley'' (1943) as Tex Wyatt
* '' Trail of Terror'' (1943) as Tex Wyatt
* ''The Return of the Rangers'' (1943) as Tex Wyatt
* ''Boss of Rawhide'' (1943) as Tex Wyatt
* '' Tahiti Nights'' (1944)
* '' Outlaw Roundup'' (1944) as Tex Wyatt
* '' Guns of the Law'' (1944) as Tex Wyatt
* '' The Pinto Bandit'' (1944) as Tex Wyatt
* '' Spook Town'' (1944) as Tex Wyatt
* '' Brand of the Devil'' (1944) as Tex Wyatt
* '' Gunsmoke Mesa'' (1944) as Tex Wyatt
* ''Gangsters of the Frontier'' (1944) as Tex Wyatt
* '' Dead or Alive'' (1944) as Tex Wyatt
* '' The Whispering Skull'' (1944) as Tex Wyatt
* '' Marked for Murder'' (1945) as Tex Wyatt
* ''Enemy of the Law'' (1945) as Tex Wyatt
* ''Three in the Saddle'' (1945) as Tex Wyatt
* ''Frontier Fugitives'' (1945) as Tex Wyatt
* ''Flaming Bullets'' (1945) as Tex Wyatt
* '' The Man Who Walked Alone'' (1945)
* '' Kiss Me, Kate'' (1953)
* '' The Kettles in the Ozarks'' (1956) Conductor

Selected short subjects

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Dave
1912 births
1969 deaths
American male film actors
People from Big Spring, Texas
20th-century American male actors
Film directors from Texas
People who died at sea