Hugh O'Brian - Film Career

Film Career

The actor made a number of motion pictures, among them Rocketship X-M (1950), The Lawless Breed (1953), There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), White Feather (1955), Come Fly with Me (1963), Love Has Many Faces (1965), In Harm's Way (1965), Ten Little Indians (1965) and Ambush Bay (1966). While on stage, Elvis Presley introduced O'Brian from the audience at the singer's April 1, 1975 performance at the Las Vegas Hilton, as captured in the imported live CD release "April Fool's Dinner". O'Brian was a featured star in the 1977 two-hour premiere of the popular television series, Fantasy Island. He played the last character that John Wayne ever killed on the screen in Wayne's final movie The Shootist (1976). O'Brian was a good friend of Wayne and said he considers this a great honor. O'Brian also appeared in fight scenes with a Bruce Lee lookalike in Lee's last film Game of Death.

O'Brian recreated his Wyatt Earp role for three 1990s projects, Guns of Paradise (1990) and The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991) with fellow actor Gene Barry doing likewise as lawman Bat Masterson for each, as well as independent film Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone (1994). He also had a small role in the Danny DeVito/Arnold Schwarzenegger comedy film Twins (1988), as one of several men who had "donated" the DNA that later became the "twins". In the film, Schwarzenegger thought he'd found his "father", when he met Hugh O'Brian's character.

For his contribution to the television industry, Hugh O'Brian has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6613½ Hollywood Blvd. In 1992, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.