Joan O'Brien
Biography
Joan O'Brien was an American actress and singer who started performing as a teenager, when Cliffie Stone put her on his television show Hometown Jamboree. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she grew up in California and took dance lessons as a child. In 1954 she joined The Bob Crosby Show as a regular, remaining until shortly before it ended in 1958. She appeared alongside Cary Grant and Tony Curtis in Operation Petticoat (1959), played Susanna Dickinson in John Wayne's The Alamo (1960), and was Wayne's love interest in The Comancheros (1961). She played Elvis Presley's romantic interest in It Happened at the World's Fair (1963). Her steadiest work was in television, among it two guest appearances on Perry Mason and an episode of The Man from UNCLE. She went on to play Ophelia in Hamlet at the Pasadena Playhouse. In 1968 she sang with the Harry James band. She died in 2025.
89years old at death
- Born Cambridge
- Died San Antonio
- Star sign: AquariusThe sign runs January 20 to February 18
Movie Career
- Films
- 6
- Career span
- 4 years1959 to 1963
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A role that slipped away
In July 1959, Lawrence Welk brought in Joan O'Brien to fill in for his champagne lady Alice Lon for one week. Years before, she had sung on Bob Crosby's show, but Welk chose not to hire her then since she was still a teenager.
Big break
After Robert Vaughn guest starred with her on The Man from UNCLE in 1964, the series star cast O'Brien as Ophelia in Hamlet at the Pasadena Playhouse.
First role
Cliffie Stone, an entertainer in the Country Music Hall of Fame, noticed O'Brien's singing and put her on his TV show Hometown Jamboree as a regular performer before she graduated high school.
A change of course
O'Brien's acting career came to an end, and in 1968 she went on to sing with the Harry James band.
Joan O'Brien movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Worked with
Joan O'Brien shares two films with John Wayne, and one with each of the others. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
John Wayne's page
Patrick Wayne's page
Kurt Russell's page
Cary Grant's page
Tony Curtis's page
Richard Widmark's page
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.