Nick O'Brien

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

O'Brien was born in 1899 to an Irish-American Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. All four of his grandparents had come from Ireland. The O'Briens were originally from County Cork. His grandfather, Patrick O'Brien, for whom he was named, was an architect who was killed while trying to break up a saloon fight in New York City. His mother's parents, the McGoverns, emigrated from County Galway in the west of Ireland in the mid- to late-19th century. As a child, O'Brien served as an altar boy at Gesu Church, while growing up near 13th and Kilbourn Streets in Milwaukee. He attended Marquette Academy with fellow actor Spencer Tracy, who was a lifelong friend. During World War I, O'Brien and Tracy joined the United States Navy. They both attended boot camp at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, but they never went to sea. The war ended before their training had finished. Jack Benny was also at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center at the same time as O'Brien and Tracy. According to his autobiography, Benny performed a number on the violin at a show one evening, when the sailors started booing and heckling him. O'Brien walked on stage and whispered in his ear, "For heaven's sake, Ben, put down the damn fiddle and talk to 'em." Benny stopped playing his violin and made a series of comments that got laughs from the audience. In this way, O'Brien indirectly helped to start Benny's career in comedy. After the war, O'Brien finished his secondary schooling at Marquette Academy and later attended Marquette University. While still at college, he decided to seek work as an actor. He and Spencer Tracy moved to New York, where they both attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. The two struggling young actors shared a small studio apartment, and began their careers on the stage.

In Their Own Story

O'Brien spent a decade in plays on Broadway and in the New York City area. He made his film debut in the Vitaphone Varieties short film, The Nightingale, produced in New York and released in August 1930. His first starring role was as ace reporter Hildy Johnson in the original 1931 version of The Front Page with Adolphe Menjou. In 2010, this film was selected by the National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress's National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." He was the lead in Paramount's Personal Maid (1931), and appeared in a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical Flying High (1931), supporting Bert Lahr. He was Irene Dunne's love interest in RKO's Consolation Marriage (1932), then co-starred opposite a young Bette Davis in Hell's House (1932). O'Brien stayed in leads, going from studio to studio: Scandal for Sale (1932), at Universal; The Strange Case of Clara Deane (1932), at Paramount; Hollywood Speaks (1932), American Madness (1932) and Virtue (1932). O'Brien played a heroic pilot in Universal's Air Mail (1932), directed by John Ford. While at that studio he was in the compelling Laughter in Hell (1932) and Destination Unknown (1933). At the small Majestic Pictures he starred in The World Gone Mad (1933). O'Brien's first Warner Bros. movie was Bureau of Missing Persons (1933), starring Bette Davis. He went to RKO for Flaming Gold (1933) and MGM for Bombshell (1933), then Warners signed O'Brien to a long-term contract. He would remain with the studio until 1940, when he left after a dispute over the terms of his contract renewal. Here Comes the Navy (1934) was O'Brien's first film with James Cagney, also under contract to Warners. The two originally met in 1926 and remained friends for almost six decades. After O'Brien's death, Cagney referred to him as his "dearest friend." O'Brien was then given his best known role, as the famous University of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne in Knute Rockne, All American (1940). In the film, he gave the speech to "win just one for the Gipper," referring to recently deceased football player, George Gipp, portrayed in the film by a young Ronald Reagan. Reagan later used this saying as a slogan for his campaign for president in 1980. O'Brien was at a career peak. He was considered for the role of Alvin York in the film Sergeant York. From this high point, however, O'Brien left Warner Bros in July 1940.

Reader's Guide

After he left Warner Bros. in 1940, O'Brien signed a contract with 20th Century Fox for two films a year. However they ended up not using him. He signed with Columbia Pictures to make two films a year. He was in Escape to Glory (1940), then was idle for a year before making Two Yanks in Trinidad (1942) with Brian Donlevy and Flight Lieutenant (1942) with Glenn Ford. At Universal he was in Broadway (1942) with George Raft. Soon he signed a contract with RKO and appeared in several movies for that studio. He mostly played authority/military roles such as The Navy Comes Through (1942), and Bombardier (1943). The Iron Major (1943) was an attempt to repeat the success of Knute Rockne with O'Brien as Frank Cavanaugh. At Universal he supported Deanna Durbin in Frank Borzage's His Butler's Sister (1943) then it was back to RKO for Marine Raiders (1944). With his agent Phil Ryan, O'Brien set up his own production company, Teneen Productions. They signed a deal with Columbia to make a film with O'Brien, Secret Command (1944). (In 1955 the IRS would sue him for earnings on this film.) At RKO he did Having Wonderful Crime (1946) and Man Alive (1945). For Columbia he made Perilous Holiday (1946). In 1946 he starred in the successful film noir suspense film, Crack-Up. He was in a thriller, Riffraff (1947) and another biopic Fighting Father Dunne (1948). He followed it with The Boy with Green Hair (1948), and A Dangerous Profession (1949) with Raft. While working as a Hollywood contract player, O'Brien made occasional appearances on the radio in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1946 he collaborated with the contralto Kate Smith on the popular Viva America program for the CBS radio network. In the summer of 1947, he starred with Lynn Bari in Summer Theater, a program "dramatizing episodes in the life of a small town druggist." O'Brien's movie career slowed considerably by the early 1950s, although he still managed to get work in television. In his autobiography, The Wind at My Back, he professed t

Did You Know?

• O'Brien indirectly helped start Jack Benny's comedy career by telling him to put down his violin and talk to the audience.
• He gave the famous 'win just one for the Gipper' speech as Knute Rockne, which Ronald Reagan later used as a campaign slogan.
• O'Brien and Spencer Tracy attended boot camp together at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center during World War I.
• His grandfather, Patrick O'Brien, was an architect killed while trying to break up a saloon fight in New York City.
• O'Brien was considered for the role of Alvin York in the film Sergeant York.