Dave O'Brien
Actor
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.
Filmography
Tell Your Children
as Ralph 1938
Kiss Me Kate
as Ralph 1953
The Devil Bat
as Johnny Layton 1940
The Sign of the Cross
as Christian on Stairway (uncredited) 1932
That's Entertainment, Part II
as (archive footage) 1976
Bowery at Midnight
as Det. Pete Crawford 1942
The Dawn Patrol
as Pilot (uncredited) 1930
Spooks Run Wild
as Jeff Dixon 1941
T.V. of Tomorrow
as Man on TV 1953
Madam Satan
as Zeppelin Reveler 1930
New Frontier
as Jason Braddock 1939
Wonder Bar
as Chorus Boy (uncredited) 1934
Hot Saturday
as Party Guest (Uncredited) 1932
Rasputin and the Empress
as Soldier (uncredited) 1932
That Gang of Mine
as Knuckles Dolan 1940
Boys of the City
as Knuckles Dolan 1940
College Coach
as Student on Tennis Court (uncredited) 1933