Wyatt Earp and TV Career
He was chosen to portray legendary lawman, Wyatt Earp, on the ABC, western series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp which debuted in 1955. Alongside Gunsmoke, which debuted the same year, these shows spearheaded the "adult western" TV genre, where the emphasis was on character development as opposed to mere moral sermonizing. It soon became one of the top-rate shows on television. During its seven-year run Wyatt Earp consistently placed in the top 10 in the United States. Decades later, O'Brian reprised the role in two episodes of the television series Guns of Paradise (1990), TV-movie The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991), and independent film Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone (1994), the latter mixing new footage and colorized archival sequences from the original series.
O'Brian appeared regularly on other programs in the 1960s, including Jack Palance's ABC circus drama, The Greatest Show on Earth. He also appeared as a 'guest attorney' in the 1963 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Two-Faced Turn-a-bout," when its star, Raymond Burr, was sidelined for a spell after minor, emergency surgery. He was a guest celebrity panelist on the popular CBS prime-time programs Password and What's My Line?, and served as a mystery guest on three occasions. In 1999 and 2000, he costarred with Dick Van Patten, Deborah Winters, Richard Roundtree, and Richard Anderson in the acclaimed Warren Chaney miniseries, Y2K - World in Crisis.
Read more about this topic: Hugh O'Brian
Famous quotes containing the words wyatt earp, wyatt and/or career:
“Tom Mix: Wyatt, is that really the way it was?
Wyatt Earp: Absolutely. Well, give or take a lie or two.”
—Blake Edwards (b. 1922)
“Help me to seek, for I lost it there
And if that ye have found it, ye that be here,
And seek to convey it secretly,
Handle it soft and treat it tenderly,
Or else it will plain and then appear:”
—Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503?–1542)
“I began my editorial career with the presidency of Mr. Adams, and my principal object was to render his administration all the assistance in my power. I flattered myself with the hope of accompanying him through [his] voyage, and of partaking in a trifling degree, of the glory of the enterprise; but he suddenly tacked about, and I could follow him no longer. I therefore waited for the first opportunity to haul down my sails.”
—William Cobbett (1762–1835)