Dave O'Brien (actor)

Dave O'Brien (actor)
Dave O'Brien (born David Poole Fronabarger; May 31, 1912 – November 8, 1969) was an American film actor, director, and screenwriter.
Life and career
Born in Big Spring, Texas, to Mike Fronabarger and his wife, Mary Edith, he started his film career performing in choruses and working as a stunt double before gradually winning larger roles, mostly in B pictures. He adopted "O'Brien" as his acting surname. He had roles in early Western movies such as Lightnin Crandall (1937), starring Bob Steele.
O'Brien acted in 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. O'Brien also had a small dancing part with Bebe Daniels in the Busby Berkeley musical 42nd Street (1933).
He appeared in the first few of Monogram Pictures East Side Kids films, then appeared in many low-budget Westerns, such as Producers Releasing Corporation's Texas Rangers series, where he was often billed as "Tex O'Brien", alluding to his home state.
In 1940, he appeared in Queen of the Yukon, The Devil Bat, and Son of the Navy. In 1942, he starred in the movie serial Captain Midnight, and had the lead role in the Western Brand of the Devil in 1944. In 1945, he appeared in The Man Who Walked Alone. One of his later roles was in the MGM musical version of Kiss Me, Kate (1953), a rare featured role for the actor in an 'A' list big-budget production.
O'Brien portrayed a frantic dope addict in the 1936 low-budget exploitation film Tell Your Children (better known under its reissue title, Reefer Madness), yelling "Play it faster, play it faster!" to a piano-playing girl (Lillian Miles).
Recognition
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.
Selected filmography
Consolation Marriage (1931)
The World Changes (1933) as Otto Peterson (uncredited)
Bright Eyes (1934) as Bill
Reefer Madness (1936)
Rough Riding Rhythm (1937)
Gun Packer (1938)
Frontier Scout (1938) as Steven Norris
Fighting Mad (1939) as Constable Kelly
Flaming Lead (1939)
Crashing Thru (1939)
Main Street Lawyer (1939) (uncredited)
East Side Kids (1940) as 'Knuckles' Dolan
Boys of the City (1940) as 'Knuckles' Dolan
That Gang of Mine (1940) as 'Knuckles' Dolan
Gun Code (1940) as Gale
The Devil Bat (1940) as Johnny Layton
Isle of Destiny (1940) Navy Radio Man (uncredited)
Phantom Rancher (1940) as Henchman Luke
Son of the Navy (1940) as Chief Machinist's Mate
Hold That Woman (1940) as Miles Hanover
Sky Bandits (1940) as Constable Kelly
Buzzy Rides the Range (1940) as Ken Blair
Flying Wild (1941) as Tom Lawson
Buzzy and the Phantom Pinto (1941)
The Spider Returns (1941)
Murder by Invitation (1941) as Michael, the Chauffeur
Billy the Kid in Santa Fe (1941) as Texas Joe
Billy the Kid Wanted (1941) as Jeff
Spooks Run Wild (1941) as Jeff Dixon
Double Trouble (1941) as Sparky Marshall
Forbidden Trails (1941) as Jim Cramer
Bowery at Midnight (1942) as Peter Crawford
'Neath Brooklyn Bridge (1942) as Sergeant Lyons
Billy the Kid's Smoking Guns (1942) as Jeff Travis
The Yanks Are Coming (1942) as Sgt. Callahan
The Rangers Take Over (1942) as Tex Wyatt
Bad Men of Thunder Gap (1943) as Tex Wyatt
West of Texas (1943) as Tex Wyatt
Border Buckaroos (1943) as Tex Wyatt
Fighting Valley (1943) as Tex Wyatt
Trail of Terror (1943) as Tex Wyatt
The Return of the Rangers (1943) as Tex Wyatt
Boss of Rawhide (1943) as Tex Wyatt
Tahiti Nights (1944)
Outlaw Roundup (1944) as Tex Wyatt
Guns of the Law (1944) as Tex Wyatt
The Pinto Bandit (1944) as Tex Wyatt
Spook Town (1944) as Tex Wyatt
Brand of the Devil (1944) as Tex Wyatt
Gunsmoke Mesa (1944) as Tex Wyatt
Gangsters of the Frontier (1944) as Tex Wyatt
Dead or Alive (1944) as Tex Wyatt
The Whispering Skull (1944) as Tex Wyatt
Marked for Murder (1945) as Tex Wyatt
Enemy of the Law (1945) as Tex Wyatt
Three in the Saddle (1945) as Tex Wyatt
Frontier Fugitives (1945) as Tex Wyatt
Flaming Bullets (1945) as Tex Wyatt
The Man Who Walked Alone (1945)
Kiss Me, Kate (1953)
The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956) Conductor
Selected short subjects
References
External links
1912 births
1969 deaths
American male film actors
People from Big Spring, Texas
20th-century American male actors
Film directors from Texas
People who died at sea