George O'Brien

Actor
George O'Brien

About

Read More
Also Known As
The Chest
Birth Place
San Francisco, California
Born
April 19, 1899
Died
September 04, 1985

Biography

Read More
Muscular, barrel-chested, yet sensitively talented silent star whose breakthrough came with the lead role in John Ford's "The Iron Horse" (1924). O'Brien starred for Fox Studios in many films after that, reuniting with Ford for such films as "The Fighting Heart" (1925) and "Three Bad Men," as well as playing in Howard Hawks' dated but amusing marital farce "Fig Leaves" (1926). 1927 saw O...

Filmography

Read More
Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
Major Braden
Gold Raiders (1951)
George O'Brien
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
Major "Mac" Allshard
Fort Apache (1948)
Capt. Sam Collingwood
My Wild Irish Rose (1947)
Duke Muldoon
December 7th (1943)
Narrator

Photos & Videos

View All
Sunrise - Movie Posters
3 Photos
Sunrise (1927) -- (Movie Clip) Midsummer Peasant Dance
0 Photos
0 Photos
Sunrise (1927) -- (Movie Clip) Make The Piggy Roll

Family & Companions

Read More
Marguerite Churchill
Wife
Actor. Married in 1933, divorced in 1948.

Biography

Muscular, barrel-chested, yet sensitively talented silent star whose breakthrough came with the lead role in John Ford's "The Iron Horse" (1924). O'Brien starred for Fox Studios in many films after that, reuniting with Ford for such films as "The Fighting Heart" (1925) and "Three Bad Men," as well as playing in Howard Hawks' dated but amusing marital farce "Fig Leaves" (1926). 1927 saw O'Brien give an excellent performance in the greatest and most famous film of his career, F.W. Murnau's classic "Sunrise" (1927). He made a successful transition to sound soon thereafter, and began playing tough but good-humored heroes in many enjoyable B-budget Westerns including "Riders of the Purple Sage" (1931) and "Mystery Ranch" (1932). Ending his dozen years with Fox, O'Brien moved over to RKO for "Daniel Boone" (1936), "Border G-Man" (1938), and "Racketeers of the Range" (1939), among others. He made few film appearances after the advent of WWII, though he was most welcome in small roles in Ford's "Fort Apache" (1948) and "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949) and made his last film (and the last of 11 with Ford) in 1964, "Cheyenne Autumn."

Filmography

 

Cast (Feature Film)

Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
Major Braden
Gold Raiders (1951)
George O'Brien
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
Major "Mac" Allshard
Fort Apache (1948)
Capt. Sam Collingwood
My Wild Irish Rose (1947)
Duke Muldoon
December 7th (1943)
Narrator
Legion of the Lawless (1940)
Jeff Toland
Triple Justice (1940)
Brad Henderson
Bullet Code (1940)
Steve Holden
Prairie Law (1940)
Brill
Stage to Chino (1940)
Dan Clark
Arizona Legion (1939)
Boone Yeager
Timber Stampede (1939)
Scott Baylor
The Marshal of Mesa City (1939)
Cliff Mason
The Fighting Gringo (1939)
Wade Barton
Trouble in Sundown (1939)
Clint Bradford
Racketeers of the Range (1939)
Barney O'Dell
Gun Law (1938)
Tom O'Malley
The Renegade Ranger (1938)
Captain Jack Steele
Lawless Valley (1938)
Larry Rhodes
Border G-Man (1938)
Jim Galloway
Painted Desert (1938)
Bob McVey
Hollywood Cowboy (1937)
Jeffery Carson
Park Avenue Logger (1937)
Grant Curran [also known as Bill Grant]
Windjammer (1937)
Bruce Lane
The Border Patrolman (1936)
Bob Wallace
Daniel Boone (1936)
Daniel Boone
O'Malley of the Mounted (1936)
O'Malley [also known as Duke Kinnard]
The Cowboy Millionaire (1935)
Bob Walker
Hard Rock Harrigan (1935)
"Hard Rock" Harrigan
Whispering Smith Speaks (1935)
Gordon D. Harrington, Jr., also known as Whispering Smith
Thunder Mountain (1935)
Kal Emerson
When a Man's a Man (1935)
Larry Knight
Frontier Marshal (1934)
Michael Wyatt
The Dude Ranger (1934)
Ernest Selby
Ever Since Eve (1934)
Neil Rogers
The Last Trail (1933)
Tom Daley
Robbers' Roost (1933)
Jim Wall
Life in the Raw (1933)
Jim [Barry]
Smoke Lightning (1933)
Smoke Mason
The Rainbow Trail (1932)
Shefford
The Golden West (1932)
David Lynch/Motano
Mystery Ranch (1932)
Bob Sanborn
The Gay Caballero (1932)
Ted Radcliffe
Fair Warning (1931)
Whistling Dan Barry
A Holy Terror (1931)
Tony Bard, also known as Tony Woodbury
Seas Beneath (1931)
Lieutenant Robert Kingsley, U.S.N.
Riders of the Purple Sage (1931)
Lassiter
Rough Romance (1930)
Billy West
Last of the Duanes (1930)
Buck Duane
The Lone Star Ranger (1930)
Buck Duane
True Heaven (1929)
Lieut. Philip Gresson
Salute (1929)
Cadet John Randall
Noah's Ark (1929)
Travis/Japheth
Masked Emotions (1929)
Bramdlet Dickery
Blindfold (1928)
Robert Kelly
Sharp Shooters (1928)
George
Honor Bound (1928)
John Ogletree
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
The man
Is Zat So? (1927)
Editor Chick Cowan
Paid To Love (1927)
Crown Prince Michael
East Side, West Side (1927)
John Breen
Rustling for Cupid (1926)
Bradley Blatchford
The Silver Treasure (1926)
Nostromo
Fig Leaves (1926)
Adam Smith
The Blue Eagle (1926)
George D'Arcy
Three Bad Men (1926)
Dan O'Malley
The Johnstown Flood (1926)
Tom O'Day
Havoc (1925)
Dick Chappel
The Fighting Heart (1925)
Denny Bolton
The Iron Horse (1925)
Davy Brandon
The Dancers (1925)
Tony
Thank You (1925)
Kenneth Jamieson
Shadows of Paris (1924)
Louis
The Roughneck (1924)
Jerry Delaney
The Painted Lady (1924)
Luther Smith
The Man Who Came Back (1924)
Henry Potter
Woman-Proof (1923)
Bill Burleigh
The Ne'er-Do-Well (1923)
Clifford
White Hands (1922)
Sailor

Cast (Short)

Magic Movie Moments (1953)

Life Events

1936

Signed with RKO; first films there, "Daniel Boone"

1940

Made last starring films for RKO

1964

Last film, "Cheyenne Autumn", directed by John Ford

Photo Collections

 
3 Photos
Sunrise - Movie Posters
Here are a few different styles of movie poster for Sunrise (1927 - aka Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans), directed by F. W. Murnau and starring Janet Gaynor.

Videos

Movie Clip

Sunrise (1927) -- (Movie Clip) Midsummer Peasant Dance Country couple George O'Brien ("The Man") and Janet Gaynor ("The Wife") excel in a dance at a big city carnival in F.W. Murnau's acclaimed silent film Sunrise, 1927.
Sunrise (1927) -- (Movie Clip) Make The Piggy Roll Janet Gaynor (as "The Wife") and George O'Brien (as "The Man") at a carnival in one of many extraordinary scenes from F.W. Murnau's landmark silent film Sunrise, 1927.
Sunrise (1927) -- (Movie Clip) Wilt Thou Love Her? Overcome with emotion at a wedding they've attended by chance, George O'Brien ("The Man") and Janet Gaynor ("The Wife") reconcile in a memorable sequence from F.W. Murnau's Sunrise, 1927.
Sunrise (1927) -- (Movie Clip) Manicure? Janet Gaynor (as "The Wife") is well-pleased as George O'Brien (as "The Man") declines a manicure and defends her honor in a big-city salon in F.W. Murnau's silent Sunrise, 1927.
Cheyenne Autumn (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Only A Footnote In History Trooper Plumtree (Ben Johnson) returns to tell officers Archer (Richard Widmark) and Braden (George O'Brien) and the Quakers (Carroll Baker, Walter Baldwin) the politicians aren't coming, the Cheyenne, (Ricardo Montalban, Gilbert Roland) denied again, in John Ford's Cheyenne Autumn, 1964.
Fort Apache (1948) -- (Movie Clip) New Commanding Officer Thursday (Henry Fonda), with daughter Philadelphia (Shirley Temple) arrives unexpected, greeted by the Collingwoods (Anna Lee, George O'Brien) and York (John Wayne), as Michael (John Agar) joins his parents (Ward Bond, Irene Rich), big events in John Ford's Fort Apache, 1948.
Fort Apache (1948) -- (Movie Clip) I Am Not A Martinet New commanding officer Thursday (Henry Fonda) reading his orders to officers, commending Michael (John Agar) for his uniform, tilting with York (John Wayne) about Indians, and reminiscing with Collingwood (George O'Brien), in John Ford's Fort Apache, 1948.
Noah's Ark (1929) -- (Movie Clip) God Walked With Japheth A sample of director Michael Curtiz's gigantic flood and Warner Bros.' special effects, George O'Brien as Japheth, the enslaved son of Noah, seeking his betrothed Miriam (Dolores Costello), as the deluge begins, in Noah's Ark, 1929.
Noah's Ark (1929) -- (Movie Clip) I'm A Traitor Not To Go! American ex-Pats in Paris, Mary (Dolores Costello) and Travis (George O'Brien) watch the doughboys (Guinn Big-Boy Williams as "Al") march in, from Michael Curtiz's silent/talkie epic Noah's Ark, 1929.

Trailer

Painted Desert, The - (Original Trailer) George O'Brien rides out to stop a crook from stealing a mine claim in The Painted Desert (1938).
My Wild Irish Rose - (Original Trailer) Dennis Morgan and Arlene Dahl star in My Wild Irish Rose (1947), a musical biography of Irish songwriter Chauncey Olcott.
Cheyenne Autumn - (Original Trailer) A reluctant calvary Captain must track a defiant tribe of migrating Cheyennes in Cheyenne Autumn (1964).
Fort Apache - (Re-issue Trailer) An experienced cavalry officer (John Wayne) tries to keep his new, by-the-books commander from triggering an Indian war in John Ford's Fort Apache (1948).
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon - (Original Trailer) An aging Cavalry officer (John Wayne) tries to pervent an Indian war in the last days before his retirement in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949).
Noah's Ark (1929) -- (Re-issue Trailer) Noah's Ark (1929), an expensive Biblical epic made at the dawn of talkies.

Family

Darcy O'Brien
Son
Author. Born in 1939; died on March 2, 1998 of a heart attack at age 59.
Orin O'Brien
Daughter

Companions

Marguerite Churchill
Wife
Actor. Married in 1933, divorced in 1948.

Bibliography

TCM Emails

Sign Up now to stay up to date with all of the latest news from TCM.

©2024 Turner Classic Movies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
©2024 Turner Classic Movies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
By using this site, you agree to our updated Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use