Dave O'Brien
Acting
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Dave O'Brien (born David Poole Fronabarger, May 31, 1912 – November 8, 1969) was an American film actor, director, and writer. O'Brien was best known to movie audiences in the 1940s as the hero of the 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. He also appeared in many low-budget Westerns, often billed as Tex O'Brien. In 1942, O'Brien starred in the movie serial Captain Midnight. Modern audiences perhaps best remember O'Brien as a frantic dope addict in the 1936 low-budget exploitation film Tell Your Children (better known under its reissue title, Reefer Madness). 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. O'Brien died, aged 57, of a heart attack while competing in a yachting race.
Born: May 31, 1912
Place of Birth: Big Spring, Texas, USA
Known For
The Spider Returns
The evil and masked "Gargoyle" is sabotaging all of America's industrial plants. It is up to the Spider to save the country.
Treasures from Trash
This short film presents an unusual Beverly Hills store called the Patio Shop, where trash is turned into art.
Sitting Pretty
Jack Oakie and Jack Haley are songwriters are enroute from New York to Hollywood to make their fame and fortune; Ginger Rogers, a lunchwagon proprieter, joins them.
The Kettles in the Ozarks
Ma and the kids head out to help Pa's brother Sedgewick with the his farm in Mournful Hollow, Arkansas. Things get tighter when a couple of bootleggers rent Sedge's barn to manufacture moonshine. With Ma and the kids, the bootleggers get their pay.
Born to Be Wild
Truck drivers Steve Hackett and Bill Purvis are fired from their jobs with the West Coast Trucking company for not using second-gear going down steep grades. Davis, the company vice-president, surprisingly asks them to carry a load of merchandise to Arrowhead and offers a $1000 bonus. He tells them it is a load of lettuce. Several miles out of Los Angelese, they are stopped by a mob of lettuce-farm workers on strike. When the first crate is tossed off the truck, it explodes and the two pals learn their merchandise is a cargo of dynamite. The workers let them proceed and they crash into a car driven by Mary Stevens, whom they had met at a restaurant. She and her dog, "Butch" (played by a Credited dog named Stooge), join them and they deliver their cargo, and learn unscrupulous real-estate operators have jammed the locks on the dam in order to ruin the ranchers and farmers and take over their property.
Doubting Thomas
A husband makes fun of his wife's theatrical aspirations when she agrees to appear in a local production. When she begins to neglect him, he decides to retaliate by also going on stage.
She Married Her Boss
A super-efficient secretary at a department store falls for and marries her boss, but finds out that taking care of him at home (and especially his spoiled-brat daughter) is a lot different than taking care of him at work.
That's Entertainment, Part II
Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time including comedy and drama as well as classic musical numbers.
The Dawn Patrol
World War I ace Dick Courtney derides the leadership of his superior officer, but he soon is promoted to squadron commander and learns harsh lessons about sending subordinates to their deaths.
One Man's Journey
Dr. Eli Watt, a widower, comes to a small town, considering himself a failure in his attempt to have a meaningful career in New York. He raises his son Jimmy as well as Letty, a baby whose mother has died in childbirth and whose father blames Watt and abandons the child. Watt dreams of returning to do research studies, but always something gets in the way: an epidemic, his children's needs, or the needs of his generally ungrateful patients. Only with the passing years does he come to find that his future isn't over and his past isn't quite the failure he believed.
Filmography
as Self (archive footage)
as (archive footage)
as Actor in the Pete Smith Shorts (archive footage)
as Dock Lapman / Mr. Brown
as Conductor
as Self
as Luke MacWade
as Thaddeus E. Thud III
as Ralph
as A Shmoe Named Joe
as Man on TV
as The Daddy
as Man on Bench (uncredited)
as Butch
as Expectant Father / Greeting Card Shopper / Hospital Patient / Job Applicant
as Oliver T. Aseltafel
as Husband (uncredited)
as Harried Homeowner
as Xavier T. Schneckendorf
as Alonzo T. Mousebrain
as O'Brien
as Dave Wyatt / Steve Carson
as Dave Wyatt
as Dave Wyatt
as Dave Wyatt
as Tony Woolrich
as Marion Scott
as Dave Wyatt
as Dave Wyatt
as Jack
as Dave Wyatt
as Dave Wyatt
as Tex Wyatt
as Tex Wyatt
as Feet-in-the-Aisle Pest
as Tex Wyatt
as Tex Wyatt
as Tex Wyatt
as Tex Wyatt
as Tex Wyatt
as Tex Wyatt
as Tex Wyatt / Curly Wyatt
as Tex Wyatt
as Falstaff Pratt the Indestructible Man
as Tex Wyatt
as Tex Wyatt
as Tex Wyatt
as Tex Wyatt
as Sgt. Phil Lyons
as Sgt. Callahan
as Det. Pete Crawford
as Joe Thunderstruck
as Jeff
as Jeff Travis
as U. S. Marine
as Dave Dodge
as Jeff
as The Husband
as Captain Albright / Captain Midnight
as Jim Cramer
as Sparky Barton
as Jeff Dixon
as Jeff
as Joe Martin
as Ralph Spencer
as Buzz Weston
as Texas Joe
as Michael, the chauffeur
as Jackson, Wentworth's Aide
as Jim Dana
as Tom Lawson
as Johnny Layton
as Knuckles Dolan
as Steve Davis
as Bob Adams
as Henchman Gale
as Knuckles Dolan
as Constable Kelly
as Miles Hanover
as Charlie
as Henchman Lucke
as Nelson
as Whitey - Navy Radio Man
as Constable Kelly
as Knuckles Dolan
as Corporal Kelly
as Constable Kelly
as Fred Chambers
as Carson
as Constable Kelly
as Frank Gordon
as Daniels
as Man in Audience
as Soldier
as Dr. Jerry Leonard
as Jerry Morgan
as Jason Braddock
as Tom Martin
as Acacia Park Game Warden
as Billiards Player
as Henchman Meggs
as Ed Arden
as Duke
as Ranch hand Red
as Bob Swane
as Henchman Trigger
as Bob Lawson
as Tex Alden
as Red Baker - Henchman
as Jeff Gray
as Steve Norris
as Henchman
as Mason - Bookkeeper
as Bat
as Ralph
as Dick Williams
as Henchman Slade
as Det. Jameson [Chs. 4-7]
as Trucker (uncredited)
as Johnny Henessey
as Detective Waters
as Bart
as Tommy Shannon
as Dog's Master (uncredited)
as Nightclub Patron
as Terry Navarro
as George Baldwin
as Young Man (uncredited)
as Shopper
as Stanley Phillips
as Steve - Tap Dancer at Baxter's Party (uncredited)
as Member of Audience
as Party Guest (uncredited)
as Karl Roder (singing voice) (uncredited)
as Student
as Dancer (uncredited)
as Pete (uncredited)
as Interne (uncredited)
as Chorus Boy (uncredited)
as Chorus Boy (uncredited)
as Talent Contestant (uncredited)
as Otto Peterson (uncredited)
as Assistant Cameraman (uncredited)
as Student on Tennis Court (uncredited)
as Dance Extra (uncredited)
as Student
as Party Boy (uncredited)
as Christian on Stairway (uncredited)
as Soldier (uncredited)
as Party Guest (Uncredited)
as Football Player (uncredited)
as Submarine Crewman (uncredited)
as Submarine Crewman
as Chorus Boy (uncredited)
as Man Picking Up Stack of Newspapers (uncredited)
as Dancer (uncredited)
as Pool Party Boy (uncredited)
as Zeppelin Reveler
as Student
as Pilot (uncredited)