William H. O'Brien

Known for Acting

7/19/1891

Peak Hill, New South Wales, Australia

Biography

Australian born William H. O'Brien began his screen acting career in Australia in 1918, then resumed in Hollywood in 1921. He continued acting in films and television series to 1971.

Known For (275 credits)

4.3

Movie

The Todd Killings

1971

Based on the true story of '60s thrill-killer Charles Schmidt ("The Pied Piper of Tucson"), Skipper Todd (Robert F. Lyons) is a charismatic 23-year old who charms his way into the lives of high school kids in a small California town. Girls find him attractive and are only too willing to accompany him to a nearby desert area to be his "girl for the night." Not all of them return, however. Featuring Richard Thomas as his loyal hanger-on and a colorful assortment of familiar actors in vivid character roles including Barbara Bel Geddes, Gloria Grahame, Edward Asner, Fay Spain, James Broderick and Michael Conrad.

7.0

Movie

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

1971

Three children evacuated from London during World War II are forced to stay with an eccentric spinster. The children's initial fears disappear when they find out she is in fact a trainee witch.

6.6

Movie

Support Your Local Gunfighter

1971

A con artist arrives in a mining town controlled by two competing companies. Both companies think he's a famous gunfighter and try to hire him to drive the other out of town.

6.4

Movie

Rio Lobo

1970

After the Civil War, a former Union colonel searches for the two traitors whose perfidy led to the loss of a close friend.

6.4

Movie

Airport

1970

An airport manager tries to keep his terminals open during a snowstorm, while a suicide bomber plots to blow up a Boeing 707 airliner in flight.

6.0

Movie

Topaz

1969

Copenhagen, Denmark, 1962. When a high-ranking Soviet official decides to change sides, a French intelligence agent is caught up in a cold, silent and bloody spy war in which his own family will play a decisive role.

5.9

Movie

The Comic

1969

An account of the rise and fall of a silent film comic, Billy Bright. The movie begins with his funeral, as he speaks from beyond the grave in a bitter tone about his fate, and takes us through his fame, as he ruins it with womanizing and drink, and his fall, as a lonely, bitter old man unable to reconcile his life's disappointments. The movie is based loosely on the life of Buster Keaton.

4.7

Movie

The Trouble with Girls

1969

Chautauqua manager Walter Hale and his loyal business manager struggle to keep their traveling troupe together in small town America.

6.0

Movie

Valley of the Dolls

1967

Lured by their dreams of fame and fortune, three ambitious young women enter the world of show business and discover how easy it is to sink into a celebrity nightmare of ego, alcohol and pills — the beloved "dolls."

7.6

Movie

The Graduate

1967

A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.

6.0

Movie

Not With My Wife, You Don't

1966

During the Korean War, Italian nurse Virna Lisi falls in love with two American fliers, Tony Curtis and George C. Scott. Lisi marries Curtis after he convinces her that Scott has been killed in a plane crash. She soon discovers Scott is alive, but remains happily married to Curtis until Scott re-enters their lives 14 years later.

6.4

Movie

Munster, Go Home!

1966

Herman discovers he's the new lord of Munster Hall in England. The family sails to Britain, where they receive a tepid welcome from Lady Effigy and Freddie Munster, who throws tantrums because he wasn't named Lord Munster. An on-board romance had blossomed between Marilyn and Roger, but on land Marilyn discovers Roger's family holds a longstanding grudge against the Munsters.