Jack Oakie
(Deceased)
Jack Oakie, actor and comedian, was born as Lewis Delany Offield on Nov. 12, 1903 in Sedalia, MO. He was reared in Muskogee, Oklahoma and, then, in New York City. His mother, Mary Evelyn Offield, founded several schools and taught psychology at Columbia University in New York.
Jack Oakie made his professional debut on Broadway in 1923 as a chorus boy in George M. Cohan's "Little Nelly Kelly". He learned his trade in a handful of musical comedies. But it was in vaudeville that Jack really came into his own. He toured the country with Lulu McConnell, doing up to six shows a day.
In 1927, he moved to Hollywood. It was just as the "talkie" movie craze hit. And Jack's style, dependent largely on verbal humor, provided him with a shot in the arm. He signed with Paramount in 1928. He made an amazing ten films in 1929 alone.
Jack was an inveterate socializer. He kept his dressing room door open, inviting all comers in for a drink or a joke between takes. This resulted in lifelong friendships with such co-workers as Clara Bow, Lucille Ball, Joseph Mankiewicz, and Bing Crosby. He had his own WABC radio show from 1936-38, hosting such stars as Judy Garland, Benny Goodman, Eddie Cantor and Alice Faye.
The 1940s began auspiciously for Jack, with Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator. His role as Napolini, Il Duce of Bacteria, was a brilliant and very thinly disguised slam at Mussolini, and earned Jack his only Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor.
Jack continued working steadily through the 1940s, though his weight ballooned alarmingly. "I looked like a walking blimp," he admitted. "I was even too fat for the big screens." In 1950 he wed actress Victoria Horne and settled down to the life of a gentleman farmer in the San Fernando Valley. Also active in real estate and local politics, Jack took up dog breeding, gardening and "loafing."
Jack Oakie's film career stretched from his first silent movie in 1923 to 1961. He appeared in such Western films as "Tomahawk" (1951), "Northwest Stampede" (1948), "The Texas Rangers" (1936), "The Call of the Wild" (1935), and "Dude Ranch" (1931).
Jack Oakie's sudden death from an aortic aneurysm on January 23, 1978, came as a great shock to his family and friends. He'd been in great spirits and apparently great health right to the end, socializing and giving interviews. More than 300 people attended his funeral, the eulogy given by Charles "Buddy" Rogers. His remains are at Forest Lawn Cemetry (Whispering Pines, lot 1066) in Glendale, CA. His autobiography, Jack Oakie's Double Takes, was published posthumously in 1980.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Jack Oakie.
Annie Oakley
(Deceased)
Annie Oakley, sharpshooter and entertainer, was born as Phebe Ann Oakley Moses (some sources say "Mozee") on August 13, 1860 in Patterson Township ( Darke County), Ohio. At 9 she began to shoot small game and sold the game to others. She was so good at it that, before she was 16, her profits paid off most of the mortgage on the family farm.
In about 1876 she challenged Frank E. Butler, a vaudeville-stage marksman, to a shooting contest and beat him by a single point. Annie later married Butler and joined his act, shortly becoming the star herself. In 1885 the Butlers joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, where Annie achieved her greatest fame touring in America and Europe for 17 years. From 30 paces she would shoot in half a playing card held on its edge, hit a dime thrown into the air, or cut a cigarette from her husband' s lips. She once performed the cigarette trick in Europe with Wilhelm the crown prince of Germany holding the target.
Her career was hampered after injuries from a train wreck in 1901 left her partially paralyzed; although she never recovered completely, she continued to tour for another 20 years.
She died at Greenville, Ohio on November 3, 1926. She is buried in the Brock Cemetery near Greenville, OH. Her life was the subject of the play "Annie Get Your Gun" by Herbert and Dorothy Fields with a musical score by Irving Berlin. And she was the inspiration for the 1950's Western TV series, "Annie Oakley," starring Gail Davis.
Warren Oates
(Deceased)
Warren Oates was born on July 5, 1928 in Kentucky. He attended high school in Louisville, continuing on to the University of Kentucky. He served in the U.S. Marines.
In college he became interested in the theatre and in 1954 headed for New York to make his mark as an actor. By 1957 he had begun appearing in live dramas such as 'Studio One', but Oates' rural drawl seemed more fitted for the filmed Westerns that were proliferating at the time, so he moved to Hollywood and immediately began working steadily as an increasingly prominent supporting player.
He eventually became one of those rare character actors whose name and face is as familiar as those of many leading stars. Oates remained one of Hollywood's most valued character players up until his sudden death from a heart attack at the age of 53. His final two films, Tough Enough (1983) and Blue Thunder (1983) were dedicated to his memory.
Warren Oates appeared in such Western movies as "True Grit" (1978, TV), "Black Beauty" (1978, TV), "There Was a Crooked Man" (1970), "The Wild Bunch" (1969), "Welcome to Hard Times" (1967), "Return of the Seven" (1966) and "Ride the High Country" (1962).
Oates appeared in such TV Western shows as "Have Gun, Will Travel,"Gunsmoke," Wanted: Dead or Alive," "The Rifleman," "The Big Valley," "Cimarron Strip," "The Virginian," "Rawhide," "Bonanza," "Wagon Train" and "Tombstone Territory." He also was the sidekick of Jack Lord in the short-lived TV series, "Stoney Burke" (1962).
This actor noted for his rough and tumble roles. But he also wrote poetry in his spare time. Warren Oates died of a heart attack on April 3, 1982.
CLICK HERE to go to a web site dedicated to Warren Oates. It includes photos, manuscripts and Warren Oates' own poetry.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Warren Oates.
Hugh O'Brian
Hugh O'Brian, actor, was born Hugh J. Krampe on April 19, 1925 in Rochester, New York. He attended school at New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL, and Kemper Military School in Booneville, MO. In high school, his sports activities were divided among football, basketball, wrestling and track, with O'Brian winning letters in all four sports.
He spent a semester at the University of Cincinnati with studies charted toward a law career. But at 17 he 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.
Hugh 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.
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 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."
O'Brian starred on Broadway in "Destry Rides Again." He has been a guest on numerous television shows including "The Shootist," "Paradise," "Gunsmoke II," 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.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of Hugh O'Brian.
Dan O'Brien
Dan O'Brien received a Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2000 for his Western novel, "The Contract Surgeon".
George O'Brien
(Deceased)
George O'Brien, cowboy actor, was born on April 19, 1900 in San Francisco, CA. He was the son of the San Francisco Chief of Police, and was the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the Pacific Fleet during World War I.In the early 1920's, George wound up in Hollywood. A chance encounter with cowboy movie star Tom Mix led to a job as camera assistant with Mix's production company. This in turn led to small jobs as a prop man, extra, stuntman, and finally bit player. In 1924, Director John Ford picked George to star in his first picture, 'The Iron Horse'. Over the next two years, he would appear in four more Ford films and would co-star with Janet Gaynor in 'The Blue Eagle (1926)' and 'Sunrise (1927)'. 'Sunrise', a winner of two Academy Awards, was the story of a simple farmer who lets another woman talk him into murdering his wife.
George remained popular until sound tracks were added to film. By that time, his popularity was fading. But with his rugged looks and physical size, he was soon a Western Cowboy Star. He was in some of the best stories ever written and in some of the worst. But he was consistently in the Top Ten money-making Western Stars.
George O'Brien is shown here in a studio
portrait from the movie, "Last of the Duanes"
with Myrna Loy. Myrna Loy later became,
by 1936, the number one female star in Hollywood.
George O'Brien did not fare nearly as well.
George O'Brien appeared in 83 films, mostly Westerns, started with the silent movie "White Hands" in 1922 and ending with the Western "Cheyenne Autumn" in 1964. He appreard in such Westerns as "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949), "Fort Apache" (1948), "Prairie Law" (1940), "The Marshall of Mesa City" (1939), "Painted Desert" (1938), "Hollywood Cowboy" (1937), "Cowboy Millionaire" (1935), "Frontier Marshall" (1934) and "The Lone Ranger" (1930).
During World War Two, George O'Brien hung up his spurs. He re-enlisted in the Navy where he fought in the Pacific and was decorated many times. After the war, when he could not find work in acting, his old director, John Ford, would give him work with the cavalry in three of his films.
O'Brien returned to naval duty in the Korean conflict and again during the Vietnam war. He left service with the rank of captain, having four times been recommended for the rank of admiral. He spent his last years ranching, but following a heart attack, was confined to bed for the last few years of his life.
George O'Brien died on Sept. 4, 1985 in Tulsa, OK.
CLICK HERE to see the complete filmography of George O'Brien.
Patrick G. O'Brien
Patrick G. O'Brien is a professor of American history and the Director of the Center for Great Plains Studies, at Emporia (Kansas) State University. He is the editor of the journal, Heritage of the Great Plains. His articles have appeared in Great Plains Quarterly, Kanhistique, Kansas Peace Officer, and Kansas History.
Rich O'Brien
Rich O'Brien is also known by his friends as "Badger". He is one of the most talented acoustic guitar and mandolin players alive today.
And he is also a music producer, having produced albums for R.W. Hampton, Don Edwards, Sons of the San Joaquin and many others. He has done his own Christmas album, "New: It's Christmas".
Biscuits O'Bryan
Biscuits O'Bryan first came to life on the stage of the Covered Wagon Dinner Theater in Sonora, Texas, then blossomed on the stage of the first National Cowboy Symposium and Celebration in Lubbock. Biscuits is the cook for the I. O. Everbody Ranch. He has been tellin' tales and reciting poetry (his and that of others)since 1987.
In 2003, Biscuits was named Humorist/Storyteller of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists. He has been a regular at the poetry gatherings in Alpine, Lubbock and Ruidoso. And he has hauled his now-departed chuckwagon as far as New Canaan, Connecticut, where he cooked and told stories for the New Canaan Historical Society.
Biscuits' alter-ego (Biscuits says he's the ego and Monte is the alter) is The Rev. Monte Jones, a now-retired Episcopal priest who has served churches
in several West Texas towns. Monte is a graduate (B.A. and M.A.) of Sul Ross State University, where he was named a Distinguished Alumnus.
Monte Jones is a 5th generation Texan whose great-great-grandfather, Joseph Bell Chance, led a company of Texas Army soldiers in the Battle of San Jacinto.
Jones now lives in San Angelo, Texas with his wife, Virginia. Her grandfather,
Guy U. Robinson, ranched in Palo Pinto County. Monte's family used to own the
96 Ranch between Van Horn and Valentine. Monte, Virginia and son John now own
the Divide Ranch between Water Valley and Robert Lee.
Monte Jones, aka Biscuits O'Bryan, can be reached by phone at (325) 486-9692, by email biscuitsobryan@cox.net, or by snail mail at 1615 S. Monroe St., San Angelo, TX 76901.
This listing is far from complete and may contain errors.
Therefore, all Western entertainers and/or their agents
are requested to submit recommended changes by
contacting Stan Paregien through his e-mail address.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
--- Bible: I Corinthians 13:2
© 2007 by Stan Paregien, Sr.
