Posted on 09/05/2016 7:12:47 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Hugh O’Brian, who shot to fame as Sheriff Wyatt Earp in what was hailed as television’s first adult Western, has died. He was 91.
A representative from HOBY, a philanthropic organization O’Brian founded, says he died at home Monday morning in Beverly Hills.
Until “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp” debuted in September 1955, most TV Westerns — “The Lone Ranger,” “Hopalong Cassidy,” the singing cowboys’ series — were aimed at adolescent boys.
“Wyatt Earp,” on the other hand, was based on a real-life Western hero, and some of its stories were authentic. (The real Earp, who lived from 1848 to 1929, is most famous for his participation in the 1881 “Shootout at the O.K. Corral” in Tombstone, Arizona.)
Critics quickly praised it, and it made O’Brian a star. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
All us kids boys and girls wanted a “Buttline Special” cap-gun.
Ok. We are really getting close to the end.
That’s “Buntline Special” named for the dime novelist Ned Buntline who commissioned Colt’s Patent Firearms to make several of the 12” barrel length Peacemakers, which he presented with great show to several of the West’s most celebrated sheriffs, of whom Wyatt Earp was the best known.
Impractical as a quickdraw handgun (lawmen preferred the 3” Sheriff’s Model or the 4 5/8th” standard Peacemaker), the Buntline Special still acquired an iconic status all its own.
Anyway, Hugh O’Brian will be missed.
I was attending a football game 20 years ago and was going up the team’s hotel escalator, when I saw this guy going down who looked familiar to me. I was staring at him trying to figure out who he was and just as he passed me, he whistled the theme music from Wyatt Earp. I started laughing when I realized it was Hugh O’Brian and since he had already passed me, I turned around looked down at him and said thank you and he turned around looking up at me and said “thank you!” A moment I will never forget. May he Rest In Peace!
That is a very nice story. Thanks for sharing.
I believe Hugh plays the role of the card shark who dies in the final scene trying to sneak up on J.B. Books, John Wayne's character.
My kid brother was selected as a HOBY representative from the State of North Dakota where he got to meet Hugh in person. It was the opportunity of a lifetime.
who all remembers the show “Search” with him and Franciosa and McClure and Burgess Meredith? That was a cool show.
He was one of the good guys.
My daughter also got to do the HOBY Leadership weekend. It was a good experience that she remembers well 15 years later. (HOBY = Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership)
Somebody help me here.......is Clint Walker the only one left of those old western TV shows? I’ve gone over it again and again trying to come up with someone else that might still be with us. We loved Wyatt Earp......RIP Mr. O’Brien and thanks for the memories.
He was a Marine I believe.
supposedly the youngest Drill Instructor ever.
Bronco Lane (Ty Hardin) is still riding the range.
Remember him well......what about “Sugarfoot” Will Hutchins?Maybe some will come back to me.......;)
He did a play at Melodyland Theater in Anaheim. Cast and crew were invited to a pool party at his house. I went and he was very pleasant.
O’Brien had never been in a movie with Wayne and was willing to take a part in The Shootist for “free” just to be in a movie with him (his last).
I used to watch all those shows on Saturday and Sunday afternoons while ironing my father’s uniforms.
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