Hugh O'Brian
{{for|the mayor of Boston with a similar name|Hugh O'Brien}}
{{Short description|American actor (1925–2016)}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Hugh O'Brian
| image = Hugh O'Brian 1965 (cropped).jpg
| caption = O'Brian in 1965
| birth_name = Hugh Charles Krampe
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|04|19}}
| birth_place = Rochester, New York, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2016|09|05|1925|04|19}}
| death_place = Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
| resting_place =
| alma_mater = University of California
| occupation = Actor
| years_active = 1948–2000
| spouse = {{marriage|Virginia Barber|2006}}
|
| website = {{url|hughobrian.me}}
| module2 = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes
| allegiance = {{flag|United States}}
| branch = 25pxUnited States Marine Corps
| serviceyears = 1943–1949
| unit =
}}
Hugh O'Brian (born Hugh Charles Krampe; April 19, 1925 – September 5, 2016) was an American actor and humanitarian, best known for his starring roles in the ABC Western television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–1961) and the NBC action television series Search (1972–1973). His notable films included the adaptation of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians (1965); he also had a notable supporting role in John Wayne's last film, The Shootist (1976).
He created the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Foundation, (HOBY) a nonprofit youth leadership-development program for high-school scholars. It has sponsored more than 500,000 students since O'Brian founded the program in 1958, following an extended visit with physician and theologian Albert Schweitzer.
Life and career
=Early life and military service=
O'Brian was born Hugh Charles Krampe in Rochester, New York, the son of Hugh John Krampe, who served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps, and Edith Lillian (née Marks) Krampe. O'Brian once described his father as "one of the toughest men I ever knew"; this inspired his interest in the military.{{cite news |last1=Endrst |first1=James |title=Hugh O'Brian Dies; Dashing TV Star of 'Wyatt Earp' Was 91 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/06/arts/television/hugh-obrian-dies-dashing-tv-star-of-wyatt-earp-was-91.html |access-date=12 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=September 5, 2016}}
O'Brian moved with his parents to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, around 1930, when he was about five years old.{{cite news| first=Jack| last=Brubaker| title=The Scribbler: 'Wyatt Earp' star spent his early years in Lancaster| url=http://lancasteronline.com/opinion/the_scribbler/the-scribbler-wyatt-earp-star-spent-his-early-years-in/article_b9b6411e-75d7-11e6-b1fe-6f04afa00257.html| newspaper=LNP| date=September 9, 2016| access-date=April 14, 2020}} His father had become an executive with the Armstrong Cork Company, which was headquartered in Lancaster. The Krampe family lived at the Stevens House Hotel temporarily before moving to the newly developed School Lane Hills houses in the city's West End. O'Brian attended Lancaster city elementary schools. The Krampes resided in Lancaster for about four years before they moved to Chicago, where his father had another position with the Armstrong Cork Company. Years later, in 1963, Hugh O'Brian was awarded the key to the city by Lancaster Mayor George Coe.
After the move to the Chicago area, Krampe and his family lived in Winnetka, Illinois, where he attended New Trier High School. He transferred to the Kemper Military School (closed in 2002) in Boonville, Missouri, where he lettered in football, basketball, wrestling, and track.
After one semester at the University of Cincinnati, Krampe dropped out to enlist in the Marine Corps during World War II. At 17, he became the youngest Marine drill instructor on record.{{cite web| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-06-16-ls-15509-story.html| title=Marshaling His Forces for the Future| newspaper=Los Angeles Times| date=June 16, 1996 }}{{cite web| title=Hugo J. Krampe| url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZY3-8DK| website=Family Search| access-date=April 3, 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403005939/https://familysearch.org/ark%3A/61903/1%3A1%3AXZY3-8DK| archive-date=April 3, 2015| url-access=registration}}{{cite web| url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XS5V-V7M| title=Hugh C. Krampe: United States Census 1930| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403000837/https://familysearch.org/ark%3A/61903/1%3A1%3AXS5V-V7M| archive-date=April 3, 2015| access-date=April 3, 2015| url-access=registration| website=Family Search}}
File:Hugh O'Brian 01 Rocketship X-M.jpg (1950)]]
{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = vertical
| width = 185
| image1 = Hugh O'Brian Wyatt Earp 1959.JPG
| caption1 = O'Brian alias Wyatt Earp in the ABC western anthology The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
| image2 = Hugh O'Brian Louise Fletcher Wyatt Earp 1961.JPG
| caption2 = With Louise Fletcher (1959)
}}
=Career start and name change=
After World War II ended, Krampe planned to become a lawyer and had been accepted at Yale University for the fall of 1947. Before that, he lived in Hollywood, where he was dating an actress. He attended her rehearsals of the Somerset Maugham play Home and Beauty. When the lead actor failed to show up, director Ida Lupino asked him to read the lines. He got the role and the play received a tremendous review, then received a contract offer from an agent.{{cite news| url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/06/entertainment/hugh-obrian-dead/index.html| title='Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp' Star Hugh O'Brian Dies at Age 91| last=McKirdy| first=Ewan| work=CNN| date=September 5, 2016| access-date=April 14, 2020}}{{cite news| url=http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-hugh-obrian-snap-story.html| title=Hugh O'Brian, actor who played Wyatt Earp, dies at 91| last=McLellan| first=Dennis| newspaper=Los Angeles Times| date=September 5, 2016 }}{{cite news| first=Bob| last=Pool| url=https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2013-jul-08-la-me-hollywood-boulevard-20130709-story.html| title=Hugh O'Brian reflects on journey from Hollywood window washer to star| newspaper=Los Angeles Times| date=July 8, 2013}}
Krampe changed his name after the program incorrectly listed him as "Hugh Krape". He later said, "I decided right then I didn't want to go through life being known as Huge Krape, so I decided to take my mother's family name, O'Brien, but they misspelled it as 'O'Brian' and I just decided to stay with that."
Lupino signed him to Never Fear, a film she was directing. O'Brian gained a contract with Universal Pictures.{{cite book| last1=Wise| first1=James E.| last2=Rehill| first2=Anne Collier| title=Stars in the Corps: Movie Actors in the United States Marines| page=152| year=1999| publisher=Naval Institute Press| isbn=978-1557509499| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_J5ZAAAAMAAJ&q=o%27brian}}
=''Wyatt Earp'' and television career=
He was chosen to portray legendary lawman Wyatt Earp on the ABC Western series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, which debuted in 1955. To help develop his character, O'Brian bought Stuart N. Lake's book Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal. He also developed a relationship with Lake, who was a consultant on the show for the first two years.{{cite journal| last1=Parke| first1=Henry C.| title=The Life and Legend of Hugh O'Brian| url=https://truewestmagazine.com/article/the-life-and-legend-of-hugh-obrian/| journal=TrueWest| date=December 2016| volume=63| issue=12| pages=22–24}} The series, alongside Gunsmoke and Cheyenne, which debuted the same year, spearheaded the "adult Western" television genre, with the emphasis on character development rather than moral sermonizing. It soon became one of the top-rated shows on television. During its six-year run, Wyatt Earp consistently placed in the top 10 in the United States. Decades later, he reprised the role in two episodes of the television series Guns of Paradise (1990), the television movie The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991), and the independent film Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone (1994), the latter mixing new footage and colorized archival sequences from the original series.
O'Brian appeared regularly on other programs in the 1950s and 1960s, including The Nat King Cole Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, all in 1957. He was seen in Jack Palance's ABC circus drama The Greatest Show on Earth. He starred in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode "Ride the Nightmare" in 1962. He also appeared as a 'guest attorney' in the 1963 Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Two-Faced Turn-a-bout" when its star, Raymond Burr, was sidelined for a spell after minor emergency surgery. He served as guest host on episodes of The Hollywood Palace in 1964 and the rock music series Shindig! in 1965. He was a guest celebrity panelist on the CBS primetime programs Password and What's My Line? and served as a mystery guest on three occasions on the latter series.
In 1971, he filmed a television pilot titled Probe, playing a high-tech (for the times) agent for a company that specialized in recovering valuable items. The pilot spawned a series for O'Brian named Search, which ran one season (1972–1973). In 1999 and 2000, he co-starred with Dick Van Patten, Deborah Winters, Richard Roundtree, and Richard Anderson in the miniseries Y2K - World in Crisis.{{cite web| url=http://www.screened.com/y2k-a-world-in-crisis/16-8485/user-reviews|title=Movies|website=Screened.com| access-date=January 18, 2016| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112105641/http://www.screened.com/y2k-a-world-in-crisis/16-8485/user-reviews/| archive-date=November 12, 2013| df=mdy-all}}
=Film career=
The actor appeared in a number of films, among them Rocketship X-M (1950), The Lawless Breed (1953), There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), White Feather (1955), The Brass Legend (1956), Come Fly with Me (1963), Love Has Many Faces (1965), In Harm's Way (1965), Ten Little Indians (1965), and Ambush Bay (1966).{{Cite web |title=Hugh O'Brian {{!}} Actor, Additional Crew, Soundtrack |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0639385/ |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=IMDb |language=en-US}}
While onstage, Elvis Presley introduced O'Brian from the audience at a performance at the Las Vegas Hilton, as captured in the imported live CD release "April Fool's Dinner". O'Brian was a featured actor in the 1977 two-hour premiere of the television series Fantasy Island. He played the last character whom John Wayne ever killed on the screen in Wayne's final movie, The Shootist (1976). O'Brian appeared in fight scenes with a Bruce Lee lookalike in Lee's last – partially completed – film, the controversial Game of Death. O'Brian recreated his Wyatt Earp role for three 1990s projects: Guns of Paradise (1990) and The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991), with fellow actor Gene Barry doing likewise as lawman Bat Masterson for each, as well as the independent film Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone (1994). He also had a cameo as the father of Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the comedy Twins (1988).{{Cite web |title=Hugh O'Brian {{!}} Actor, Additional Crew, Soundtrack |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0639385/ |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=IMDb |language=en-US}}
O'Brian also appeared in one episode of Murder, She Wrote (1990), one episode of L.A. Law (1993) and two episodes of Call of the Wild (2000).{{Cite web |title=Hugh O'Brian {{!}} Actor, Additional Crew, Soundtrack |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0639385/ |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=IMDb |language=en-US}}
Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Foundation
O'Brian dedicated much of his life to the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Foundation (HOBY), a non-profit youth leadership-development program for high-school scholars. HOBY sponsors 10,000 high school sophomores annually through its over 70 leadership programs in all 50 states and 20 countries. Since its inception in 1958, over 500,000 young people have participated in HOBY-related programs.{{cite web| title=History of HOBY| url=https://www.hoby.org/about/history/| website=HOBY Leadership| access-date=April 14, 2020}}
One high-school sophomore from every high school in the United States, referred to as an "ambassador", is welcome to attend a state or regional HOBY seminar. From each of those seminars, students (number based on population) are offered the opportunity to attend the World Leadership Congress. In 2008, over 500 ambassadors attended from all 50 states and 20 countries. The concept for HOBY was inspired in 1958 by a nine-day visit O'Brian had with famed humanitarian Dr. Albert Schweitzer in Africa. Dr. Schweitzer believed "the most important thing in education is to teach young people to think for themselves."
O'Brian's message was explained in an essay on the topic:{{quote|I do NOT believe we are all born equal. Created equal in the eyes of God, yes, but physical and emotional differences, parental guidelines, varying environments, being in the right place at the right time, all play a role in enhancing or limiting an individual's development. But I DO believe every man and woman, if given the opportunity and encouragement to recognize their potential, regardless of background, has the freedom to choose in our world. Will an individual be a taker or a giver in life? Will that person be satisfied merely to exist or seek a meaningful purpose? Will he or she dare to dream the impossible dream? I believe every person is created as the steward of his or her own destiny with great power for a specific purpose, to share with others, through service, a reverence for life in a spirit of love.|Hugh O'Brian|The Freedom to Choose.{{cite web| url=http://www.hobyarizona.org/about-us| title=Who Are We?| website=Hoby Arizona| access-date=April 14, 2020}}}}
Personal life and death
In 1969, photographer Adina Etkis successfully sued O'Brian for child support in Los Angeles court regarding her son Hugh Donald Krampe. Etkis had met O'Brian in 1951.{{cite news| date=March 31, 1971| title=Hugh O'Brian Declared Father| url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-bulletin-hugh-obrian/149265622/| newspaper=Honolulu Star-Bulletin| page=7|via = Newspapers.com }} However, O'Brian stated in his trust: "I do not have any children, living or dead", specifically naming two claimants, including Hugh.{{cite web | url=https://www.sfbar.org/blog/tvs-wyatt-earp-fought-off-a-mob-of-unclaimed-heirs/ | title=TV's Wyatt Earp Fought off a Mob of Unclaimed Heirs | date=January 26, 2021 }} Four people have claimed O'Brian to be their father.{{cite news| url=https://mynewsla.com/hollywood/2017/09/06/oh-baby-four-allege-childless-wyatt-earp-star-hugh-obrian-was-daddy| title=Oh baby! Four allege 'childless' Wyatt Earp star Hugh O'Brian was daddy| last=Kelley| first=Christina| date=September 6, 2017| journal=MyNewsLA}}
On June 25, 2006, at age 81, O'Brian married his girlfriend of 18 years, Virginia Barber (born circa 1952); it was his first and only marriage. The ceremony was held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park with the Rev. Robert Schuller officiating.{{cite news| url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-06-26-hugh-obrian_x.htm| title=Hugh O'Brian weds for the first time| newspaper=USA Today| agency=Associated Press| date=June 26, 2006| access-date=March 1, 2016}} Barber, a teacher by profession, had been previously married once. The couple spent their honeymoon studying philosophy at Oxford University. O'Brian stated that he believed "an active mind is as important as an active body".{{cite news| url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/wyatt-earp-star-hugh-obrian-wife-spend-honeymoon-in-school| title='Wyatt Earp' Star Hugh O'Brian, Wife Spend Honeymoon in School| work=Fox News Channel| date=August 21, 2006| agency=Associated Press| access-date=September 6, 2016}} O'Brian died at his home in Beverly Hills, California, on September 5, 2016, at age 91.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/hugh-obrian-square-jawed-actor-who-played-wyatt-earp-on-tv-dies-at-91/2016/09/06/a2cd7abc-742e-11e6-8149-b8d05321db62_story.html?outputType=amp |title=Hugh O'Brian, square-jawed actor who played Wyatt Earp on TV, dies at 91 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=September 6, 2016 |access-date=April 14, 2020}}{{cite news| url=https://variety.com/2016/film/news/hugh-obrian-dead-the-life-and-legend-of-wyatt-earp-1201852383| title=Hugh O'Brian, Star of TV's 'The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp', Dies at 91| first=Carmel| last=Dagan| date=September 5, 2016| newspaper=Variety| access-date=September 5, 2016}}
Filmography
{{Main|Hugh O'Brian filmography}}
Awards
For his contribution to the television industry, Hugh O'Brian has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6613½ Hollywood Blvd. In 1992, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
| class=wikitable |
| style="width:4%;"| Year
! style="width:30%;"| Nominated work ! style="width:58%;"| Award ! width=8%| Result |
|---|
| 1953
| Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer — Male | {{won}} |
| 1956
| The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp | Primetime Emmy for Best Continuing Performance by an Actor in a Dramatic Series | {{nom}} |
| 1960
| rowspan=4| Himself | Hollywood Walk of Fame Star — Television | {{won|Honored}} |
| 1973
| Golden Plate Award – Television{{cite web |url=http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/pagegen/brochure/p6.html |title=1961-1976 Golden Plate Recipients |website=Academy of Achievement |access-date=January 18, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160110121633/http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/pagegen/brochure/p6.html |archive-date=January 10, 2016 |df=mdy-all}} | {{won|Honored}} |
| 1991
| {{won|Honored}} |
| 1992
| Hall of Great Western Performers | {{won|Inducted}} |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- [http://www.hoby.org Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Foundation] (official website)
- {{IMDb name|nm0639385}}
- [https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/142815%7C71764/Hugh-O'Brian#overview Hugh O'Brian] at Turner Classic Movies
- {{IBDB name|54790}}
- {{EmmyTVLegends name|hugh-obrian|Hugh O'Brian}}
- [http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=12980 Hugh O'Brian profile @ Aveleyman.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200814202006/https://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=12980 |date=August 14, 2020 }}
{{Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year Actor}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|New York (state)|Illinois|Los Angeles|California|Film|Theatre|Television}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:OBrian, Hugh}}
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male stage actors
Category:Western (genre) television actors
Category:New Star of the Year (Actor) Golden Globe winners
Category:Male actors from Los Angeles
Category:Male actors from New York (state)
Category:Philanthropists from California
Category:United States Marine Corps non-commissioned officers
Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II
Category:Military personnel from Rochester, New York
Category:California Republicans
Category:University of Cincinnati alumni
Category:New Trier High School alumni
Category:Male actors from Rochester, New York
Category:Actors from Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Category:People from Winnetka, Illinois
Category:American people of English descent
Category:American people of German descent
Category:American people of German-Jewish descent
Category:American people of Scottish descent
Category:Philanthropists from New York (state)
Category:Philanthropists from Illinois