ORIGINALLY AIRED

SEPTEMBER 14TH AT 8 PM ET

ICONS RADIO INTERVIEW

ACTOR HUGH O'BRAIN

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Hugh O’Brian: Visionary & Legendary Humanitarian

"I believe every person is created as the steward of his or her own destiny with great power for a specific purpose: To share with others, through service, a reverence for life in a spirit of love."

– Actor Hugh O'Brian

Though actor Hugh O'Brian has appeared in hundreds of television shows and movies through the decades, there is one role with which he is immediately identified: that of frontier lawman Wyatt Earp. O'Brian played the lead role in the "Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp," a top-rated series aired on ABC television from 1955-61, catapulting him to stardom.

Born April 19, 1925 in Rochester, New York (as Hugh J. Krampe), O'Brian attended school at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, and Kemper Military School in Booneville, After a semester at the University of Cincinnati O' Brian, at 17, enlisted in the Marine Corps. He became the youngest drill instructor in the Corps' history, and during his four year service earned a Fleet appointment to The US Naval Academy. After passing the entrance exams, he declined the appointment, intending to enroll at Yale to study law.

Ida Lupino is credited with discovering his acting talent when she saw him on stage and signed him to play his first starring role in the film "Young Lovers" which Lupino directed. This brought him a contract with Universal Studios. O' Brian left Universal after three years to guest star in numerous television shows and in such films as "Broken Lance" and "No Business Like Show Business." His "big break" came when he was chosen to portray the legendary lawman Wyatt Earp on television. Shortly after the series debuted in 1955 as the "first adult western," it became the top-rated show on television.

O'Brian starred on Broadway in "Destry Rides Again," "First Love," and in the Broadway revival of "Guys and Dolls." He has been a guest on numerous television and radio shows including the Today Show, the Larry King and Jim Bohanan Shows, Charlie Rose's Nightwatch and The Pat Sajak Show. Recent credits include "The Shootist," "Killer Force," "Game of Death," "Twins," and numerous appearances on "Fantasy Island," "Love Boat," the T.V. series "Paradise," "Gunsmoke II," "Murder, She Wrote," "L.A. Law," and a Kenny Rogers Gambler IV movie, "The Luck of the Draw: The Gambler Returns," and “Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone” – a made-for-TV feature movie.

Hugh O'Brian has dedicated much of his life to the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY). The concept for HOBY was inspired in 1958 by a nine-day visit O’Brian had with famed humanitarian Dr. Albert Schweitzer in Africa. Dr. Schweitzer believed "the most important thing in education is to teach young people to think for themselves."

HOBY is a non-profit youth leadership development program that empowers 10,000 sophomores annually through its over 70 leadership programs in all 50 states and 8 countries. Since its inception in 1958, over 355,000 young people have been inspired by HOBY.