Star of ‘Wyatt Earp,’ TV’s first adult Western
LOS ANGELES — Hugh O’Brian, who shot to fame as Sheriff Wyatt Earp in what was hailed as television’s first adult Western, has died. He was 91.
A representative from HOBY, a philanthropic organization O’Brian founded, says he died at home Monday morning in Beverly Hills.
Until “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp” debuted in September 1955, most TV Westerns — “The Lone Ranger,” “Hopalong Cassidy,” the singing cowboys’ series — were aimed at adolescent boys.
“Wyatt Earp,” on the other hand, was based on a real-life Western hero, and some of its stories were authentic. (The real Earp, who lived from 1848 to 1929, is most famous for his participation in the 1881 “Shootout at the O.K. Corral” in Tombstone, Ariz.)
Critics quickly praised it, and it made O’Brian a star.
“If we were doing Westerns with the chase and the fights that last endlessly, and the sheriff ’s daughter in sunbonnet and calico and the Wanted posters … we wouldn’t reach the audience we reach each week,” O’Brian once said.
“Gunsmoke,” which debuted just a few days after “Wyatt Earp,” became an even bigger hit, and by 1956-57, both were in the top 20 shows.
“Wyatt Earp” remained a Top 20 hit until 1960, but it was canceled the following year after being supplanted by the avalanche of other adult Westerns.
He starred in the 1970s detective series “Search” and appeared in such films as “In Harm’s Way” and “Ten Little Indians,” and reprised his role as Earp in 1994’s “Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone,” a film that combined new footage with colorized scenes from the original TV show.
He also had a small but memorable role as the faro dealer in John Wayne’s last film, “The Shootist,” and later noted with pride that it gave him the distinction of being the last bad guy killed by Wayne.
O’Brian was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1992.
Born Hugh Krampe in Rochester, N.Y., O’Brian was educated in Winnetka, Ill., leaving school at 17 to join the Marines. He went on to become one of the corps’ youngest drill sergeants.
In June 2006, at 81, O’Brian wed for the first time, to Virginia Barber, 54, at the Forest Lawn cemetery in what they quipped was a “wedding to die for.”
“I said goodbye, early this morning, to my favorite cowboy. My 28 years with Hugh have been an amazing, beautiful adventure. I will miss my special man who told me every day that I was beautiful and that he loved me,” his wife wrote Monday. “I was one lucky cowgirl.”