Celebrity Death: Hugh O'Brian, TV's Wyatt Earp, 91

[Acadmus]

This one's for you old timers out there. Bit before my time (by about a generation ).

Hugh O'Brian, star of The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955-1961) died peacefully at home this weekend at the age of 91.

Emmy nominated for "best continuing performance" for his part on the show in 1957.

He also played the last character ever to be killed on screen by a John Wayne character in The Shootist.

http://www.philly.com/philly/entert...end_of_Wyatt_Earp___Dies_at_91.html?amphtml=y

Click to read more...

 

[MoreOrr]

Very memorable name and face, but be damned it's hard to remember any of the roles I saw him play. I just get images in my mind, mostly westerns, but can't put roles to them.

 

[kihei]

Bette Davis once said of a starlet she particularly disliked "She has all the range from A to B." Same could be said for O'Brien who tended to frown a lot and look like he would rather be someplace else. But Wyatt Earp was a good show, right up there with Gunsmoke; Maverick; Have Gun, Will Travel; Wanted Dead or Alive; and Rawhide, et al, back when people were still interested in Westerns. How quaint that seems now.

 

[Acadmus]

Bette Davis once said of a starlet she particularly disliked "She has all the range from A to B." Same could be said for O'Brien who tended to frown a lot and look like he would rather be someplace else. But Wyatt Earp was a good show, right up there with Gunsmoke; Maverick; Have Gun, Will Travel; Wanted Dead or Alive; and Rawhide, et al, back when people were still interested in Westerns. How quaint that seems now.

Don't forget The Rifleman...don't leave Chuck Connors out of this Of course, he was more dynamic, since he not only starred in a beloved TV western, but also played baseball with a one-game callup for the Brooklyn Dodgers and a 66-game stint with the Chicago Cubs. This is after he spent some time with the Boston Celticsin the NBA (he's credited as being the first player ever to break a backboard, which he did in 1946) when he left the army after World War II (he spent most of it Stateside as a tank-warfare instructor). He also got drafted by the NFL's Chicago Bears, but never played pro football. I'd heard he'd played baseball here in Vermont (The Bennington Generals, which I'm guessing is long-defunct), but damn, the things you learn about these stars of yesteryear when you start reading about them.

 

[kihei]

Don't forget The Rifleman...don't leave Chuck Connors out of this Of course, he was more dynamic, since he not only starred in a beloved TV western, but also played baseball with a one-game callup for the Brooklyn Dodgers and a 66-game stint with the Chicago Cubs. This is after he spent some time with the Boston Celticsin the NBA (he's credited as being the first player ever to break a backboard, which he did in 1946) when he left the army after World War II (he spent most of it Stateside as a tank-warfare instructor). He also got drafted by the NFL's Chicago Bears, but never played pro football. I'd heard he'd played baseball here in Vermont (The Bennington Generals, which I'm guessing is long-defunct), but damn, the things you learn about these stars of yesteryear when you start reading about them.

Chuck was also rumoured to be to the right of John Wayne on political issues which must have taken some doin'.

 

[Acadmus]

Chuck was also rumoured to be to the right of John Wayne on political issues which must have taken some doin'.

One more reason for me to like him

 

[Uncle Rotter]

He also did commentary for the "Thriller in Manilla" (along with Flip Wilson. It was the 1970s)

 

[Jumptheshark]

Chuck was also rumoured to be to the right of John Wayne on political issues which must have taken some doin'.

John Wayne was not the most RW out there.

Ward Bond was further right then Wayne

 

[kihei]

John Wayne was not the most RW out there.

Ward Bond was further right then Wayne

That's true. Bond makes Ted Cruz look like a moderate.