Hugh O’Brian __________ Not your average Cowboy Pt 2

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Hugh O’Brian, Wyatt Earp

pale rider / the heavy horses

Between 1950 and 1956 Hugh O’Brian had work in about 20 Westerns. Though these are from the Golden Age of Westerns I confess that I haven’t seen most of them. I recognize Vengeance Valley (1951) and Broken Lance ( 1954). Colin – over at Riding the High Country blog (https://livius1.wordpress.com/) is an expert on Westerns from the 40’s and 50’s and could likely have some information on some of them.

Amazingly, except for TV work, Hugh made next to NO Western films
between 1954 and 1990!

Except for one:
The Western Classic:
The Shootist

But Hugh’s big break came in 1955 when he was offered the role of
Wyatt Earp in:

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
TV Series (1955–1961)

Next:

Hugh O’Brian – Not your average Cowboy Pt 3
The Shootist / 1976

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Hugh O’Brian Wyatt Earp

Comments

2 responses to “Hugh O’Brian __________ Not your average Cowboy Pt 2”

September 12, 2016

Colin

Firstly, thanks for the name check and the compliment – not sure I deserve such praise but I’ll take it anyway. 🙂

O’Brian did make a few more westerns between ’54 and the end of the decade of course, including a few very impressive ones, but his output in the genre certainly did slow down considerably, and then essentially dried up altogether for a time. One reason is undoubtedly the time he was spending playing Wyatt Earp (obviously a western character) on television. He concentrated primarily on TV work in those years anyway and made fewer films generally. I think it’s also a reflection of the general trend of the era; the blossoming of the western on TV and its subsequent, and some might add consequent, decline in the cinema.

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1. September 14, 2016
  
  jcalberta
  
  Thank you for that. Yes you deserve the praise because you keep these Westerns alive – and for the information about them. Many are in danger of being lost and a lot of them definitely worth watching.
  I know Hugh did some TV work in that span – mainly non-Western. I figure there’s a couple of Classic Westerns in his early work, but I haven’t seen most of them so I can’t say …
  
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My Favorite Westerns