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Though actor Hugh O'Brian has appeared in a myriad of
television shows and movies through the decades, there is one role with
which he immediately identified: that of frontier lawman Wyatt Earp. O'Brian
played the lead role in the "Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp,"
a top-rated series aired on ABC television from 1955-61, catipulting O'Brian
to stardom.
But becoming a star was not always his ambition. He almost
became a lawyer.
Born April 19, 1925 in Rochester, New York (as Hugh J.
Krampe), O'Brian attended school at New Trier High School in Winnetka,
Illinois, and Kemper Military School in Booneville, Missouri. In high school,
his sports activities were divided among football, basketball, wrestling
and track, with O'Brian winning letters in all four sports. After a semester
at the University of Cincinnati with studies charted toward a law career,
O' Brian, at 17, enlisted in the Marine Corps. He became the youngest drill
instructor in the Corps' history, and during his four year service won
a coveted Fleet appointment to The Naval Academy. After passing the entrance
exams, he declined the appointment, intending to enroll at Yale to study
law.
After serving four years, and receiving his honorable
discharge from the Marine Corps, O' Brian went to Los Angeles where he
planned to earn money for his Yale tuition. He met leading ladies Ruth
Roman and Linda Christian, who introduced him to a little theater group.
When a leading man became ill, O' Brian substituted. Originally, he felt
the acting experience might be helpful in his legal career; however, he
got such good reviews in Somerset Maugham's play "Home and Beauty"
that he decided to enroll at UCLA and continue his little theater appearances
as an avocation while continuing his quest for a college education. About
a year later, Ida Lupino saw one of his performances and signed him to
play his first starring role in the film "Young Lovers" which
Lupino directed. This brought him a contract with Universal Studios. During
his first year under contract, he enrolled at Los Angeles City College
and managed to amass 17 college credits in addition to making five pictures
at Universal.
O' Brian left Universal after three years to guest star
in numerous television shows and in such films as "Broken Lance"
and "No Business Like Show Business." The "big break"
in his career came when he was chosen to portray the legendary lawman Wyatt
Earp on television. Shortly after the series debuted in 1955 as the "first
adult western," it became the top-rated show on T.V., and O' Brian
became a much-discussed talent. During its seven-year run, "Wyatt
Earp" always placed in the top 10 television shows in the nation.
In 1972-73, he starred in the action series, "Search."
O'Brian starred on Broadway in "Destry Rides Again,"
"First Love," and in the Broadway revival of "Guys and Dolls."
He also starred in the national company of "Cactus Flower," "The
Odd Couple," "The Tender Trap," "A Thousand Clowns,"
and "Plaza Suite." He has been a guest on numerous television
and radio shows including the Today Show, the Larry King and Jim Bohanan
Shows, Charlie Rose's Nightwatch and The Pat Sajak Show. Recent credits
include "The Shootist," "Killer Force," "Game
of Death," "Twins," and numerous appearances on "Fantasy
Island," "Love Boat," the T.V. series "Paradise,"
"Gunsmoke II," "Murder, She Wrote," "L.A. Law,"
and a Kenny Rogers Gambler IV movie, "The Luck of the Draw: The Gambler
Returns." "Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone" was O'Brian's
latest film project.
In 1958, O'Brian spent nine inspirational days with the
great humanitarian Dr. Albert Schweitzer at his clinic in Africa. Dr. Schweitzer's
strong belief that "the most important thing in education is to teach
young people to think for themselves" impressed O'Brian. Upon his
return to the United States, he put Schweitzer' s words into action by
forming the Hugh O' Brian Youth Foundation
(HOBY). Its format for motivation is simple: bring a select group
of high school sophomores with demonstrated leadership abilities together
with a group of distinguished leaders in business, education, government
and the professions, and let the two interact. Using a question-and-answer
format, the young people selected annually by over 14,500 public and private
high school to attend a HOBY Leadership Seminar held each spring in their
state get a realistic look at what makes America's Incentive System work,
thus better enabling them "to think for themselves."
HOBY Leadership Seminars take place in all 50 states
(35 states hold two to five per state depending on the number of schools
in each state), as well as in Canada and Mexico. More than 14,500 "outstanding"
high school sophomores, selected to represent as many schools, will attend
these three to four day educational seminars annually at no cost to the
student, parents or to the school. All HOBY programs are coordinated by
volunteers. Service organizations such as the Jaycees, Kiwanis, General
Foundation of Women's Clubs, the National Management Association and Optimists
are the backbone of this volunteer effort. O'Brian himself sets the example
by donating 70 hours a week or more to HOBY.
HOBY is a non-profit organization and is funded solely
through the private sector.
In 1972, O'Brian was awarded one of the nation's highest
honors, the Freedom Through Knowledge Award, sponsored by the National
Space Club in association with NASA. In 1973, he was honored by the American
Academy of Achievement. In 1974, he was awarded the George Washington Honor
Medal, highest award of the Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge, as well
as the Globe and Anchor Award from the Marine Corps. In 1976, the Veterans
of Foreign Wars honored him with an award. He is the recipient of the AMVETS
Silver Helmet Award, and in 1983, the National Society of Fund Raising
Executives honored him with their premier award for overall philanthropic
excellence as a volunteer, fundraiser and philanthropist. This is the only
time one individual has received the award in all three categories. Notre
Dame honored him with the first "Pat O' Brian Memorial Award"
in 1984. That same year, The Family Counseling Service honored O' Brian
with its first National Family of Man Award.
In 1989, he received the 60th Annual American Education
Award presented by the American Association of School Administrators. This
award is the oldest and most prestigious award that the education profession
bestows. O'Brian joins Norman Rockwell, Lyndon Johnson, Helen Keller, Walt
Disney, and Bob Hope as a recipient of this most significant award. On
June 2, 1990, the Los Angeles Business Council awarded O'Brian its 6th
Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of outstanding achievement, working
within the framework of the American Free Enterprise System. In 1992, O'
Brian was inducted into the Great Western Performers Hall of Fame, and
in 1993, O' Brian was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Franklin
Mint. In 1994, O'Brian was awarded the Freedoms Foundation's Private Enterprise
Exemplar medal, in 1995 the American Celtic Globe Humanitarian Award from
the Ireland Chamber of Commerce, in 1995 the Epsilon Sigma Alpha (ESA,
Int.) Vision Award, and in 1997 the KNX Newsradio Man of the Year Award
and the Central City Association of Los Angeles' Treasures of Los Angeles
Award.
O'Brian has been awarded honorary degrees by several
prestigious institutions of higher learning. He has received honorary Doctorates
of Humane Letters from Saint Mary of the Plains College in Kansas, Lebanon
Valley College in Pennsylvania, Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania
and Green Mountain College, Poultney, Vermont, as well as an honorary Doctor
of Laws degree from Saint John' s University in New York. In the summer
of 1987, O' Brian was presented with an honorary Doctor of Public Services
degree from the University of Denver. Each university honored O' Brian
for the outstanding work he has undertaken on behalf of youth throughout
America and the world.
O' Brian lives in a hilltop home overlooking Beverly
Hills. Diverse as ever, his sports activities include sailing, scuba diving,
swimming, tennis and long-distance bicycling.
Published on the Metropolitan News Company
website in connection with Hugh O'Brian's appearance at the Jan. 16, 1998
"Person of the Year" Dinner in honor of Los Angeles Superior
Court Judge Victor Chavez)
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