Edmond O'Brien

Eamon Joseph O'Brien (Irish: Éamonn Ó Briain; September 10, 1915 – May 8, 1985), known professionally as Edmond O'Brien, was an American actor of stage, screen, and television, and film director. His career spanned almost 40 years, and he won one Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

O'Brien was both leading man and a character actor of American cinema, with his co-starring performances in The Barefoot Contessa (1954) and Seven Days in May (1964) each earning him the nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; he won for his role in The Barefoot Contessa. His other notable films include The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), The Killers (1946), A Double Life (1947), White Heat (1949), D.O.A. (1950), The Hitch-Hiker (1953), Julius Caesar (1953), 1984 (1956), The Girl Can't Help It (1956), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Fantastic Voyage (1966), The Wild Bunch (1969), and The Other Side of the Wind (2018).

O'Brien was born in Brooklyn, New York, the seventh and youngest child of Agnes (née Baldwin) and James O'Brien. His parents were natives of Tallow, County Waterford, Ireland. His father died when he was four years old.

O'Brien performed magic shows for children in his neighborhood, spelling his last name backwards and billing himself as "Neirbo the Great". An aunt who taught high school English and speech took him to the theatre from an early age and he developed an interest in acting. He began acting in plays at school.

After attending Fordham University for six months, O'Brien went to Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre on a scholarship. O'Brien studied for two years under such teachers as Sanford Meisner; his classmates included Betty Garrett. "It was simply the best training in the world for a young actor, singer or dancer," O'Brien said, adding that "(w)hat these teachers encouraged above all was getting your tools ready – your body, your voice, your speech."

O'Brien took classes with the Columbia Laboratory Players group, which emphasized training in Shakespeare.

O'Brien began working in summer stock in Yonkers. He made his first Broadway appearance at age 21 in Daughters of Atreus.

He played a grave digger in Hamlet, toured in Parnell, and then appeared in Maxwell Anderson's The Star Wagon with stars Lillian Gish and Burgess Meredith. In 1940, O'Brien performed with Ruth Chatterton in John Van Druten's Leave Her to Heaven on Broadway. Twelve years later, O'Brien appeared in Van Druten's I've Got Sixpence.