Dave O'Brien (actor)


Dave O'Brien was an American film actor, director, and writer.

Biography

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.
He also appeared in many low-budget Westerns, often billed as "Tex" O'Brien, alluding to his home state. 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, yelling "Play it faster, play it faster!" to a piano-playing girl. He appeared in Queen of the Yukon 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 and The Man Who Walked Alone.
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, a rare featured role for the actor in an 'A' list big-budget production.
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

YearTitleRoleNotes
1942Calling All Pa'sJoe Thunderstruck
1943First Aid Crandall K. Krumb, the Husband
1944Movie PestsFeet-in-the-Aisle-PestUncredited
1946Treasures From TrashAlonzo T. MousebrainDirector and Screenplay Writer as David Barclay
1946Sure CuresXavier T. SchneckendorfDirector and Screenplay Writer as David Barclay
1947Have You Ever WonderedMain CharacterDirector and Screenplay Writer as David Barclay
1948Ice AcesDirector as David Barclay
1948You Can't WinDirector and Screenplay Writer as David Barclay
1949Just Suppose The DadDirector as David Barclay
1950Wrong Way ButchWrong Way ButchDirector as David Barclay
1952I Love Children But... The Dad/Papa SchlemielDirector and Writer as David Barclay