Erin O'Brien obit

Erin O’Brien, Actress in ‘Onionhead’ and ’77 Sunset Strip,’ Dies at 87

She also sang for a year on 'The Tonight Show' and on programs hosted by Frank Sinatra, Liberace, Ray Anthony and Eddie Fisher.

 

She was not on the list.

Erin O’Brien, a singer and actress who appeared with Andy Griffith in Onionhead, with Robert Stack in John Paul Jones and with Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Edd Byrnes on the pilot for the swanky ABC crime series 77 Sunset Strip, has died. She was 87.

O’Brien died May 20 of natural causes at her home in Seattle, her sister, Sheila O’Brien, told The Hollywood Reporter.

O’Brien had a recording contract and performed often on Steve Allen’s The Tonight Show as well as on other programs hosted by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Liberace, bandleader Ray Anthony and Eddie Fisher. And in 1957, she, Bob Hope and Jayne Mansfield entertained the troops on a USO Tour.

On the 77 Sunset Strip pilot “Girl on the Run,” which briefly played in theaters before airing on Oct. 10, 1958, O’Brien portrayed a lounge singer who witnesses the murder of a union boss and suddenly finds her life in danger. Zimbalist starred as Stuart Bailey, the private eye he would play on the series, while Byrnes portrayed a hitman who compulsively combs his hair.

Producers liked Byrnes so much, they turned him into parking attendant Gerald Lloyd Kookson III — “Kookie” for short — but kept the quirky combing bit. At the start of the next episode, Zimbalist told viewers: “We previewed this show, and because Edd Byrnes was such a hit, we decided that Kookie and his comb had to be in our series. So this week, we’ll just forget that in the pilot he went off to prison to be executed.”

O’Brien was born in Hollywood on Jan. 17, 1934, and raised in Long Beach, California. She performed as a youngster with the Long Beach Philharmonic and for three years on the live, five-days-a-week Al Jarvis Show — which featured Betty White — on KTLA-TV.

According to the Internet Movie Database, O'Brien was a featured solo singer on The Steve Allen Show from 1956 to 1958.

On the day after she won first prize on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts CBS program by singing “Only a Rose,” Allen brought her out of the audience to perform on The Tonight Show, and she accepted a one-year contract from the host right on the spot.

With guidance from Liberace’s manager, Seymour Heller, O’Brien signed with Warner Bros. and appeared on such series as Colt .45, Maverick, Cheyenne, Sugarfoot and 77 Sunset Strip for the studio.

She played the college girlfriend of Griffith’s character in Onionhead (1958), and in John Paul Jones (1959), she was a woman who commands the attention of Stack (as Jones) and Macdonald Carey (as Patrick Henry).

O’Brien showed up on other shows including Death Valley Days, Bat Masterson and Perry Mason before ending her onscreen career with an appearance in In Like Flint (1967).

Survivors include her second husband, Kanan, five children and seven siblings.

Actress

In Like Flint (1967)

In Like Flint

Amazon #1

1967

 

Danny Kaye in The Danny Kaye Show (1963)

The Danny Kaye Show

Player

TV Series

1964

1 episode

 

Raymond Burr in Perry Mason (1957)

Perry Mason

Janis Carr

TV Series

1963

1 episode

 

Broderick Crawford in King of Diamonds (1961)

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Carla

TV Series

1962

1 episode

 

Robert Fuller and John Smith in Laramie (1959)

Laramie

Abbey O'NeillGina Ross

TV Series

1961–1962

2 episodes

 

The Asphalt Jungle (1961)

The Asphalt Jungle

Norma Randall

TV Series

1961

1 episode

 

Henry Fonda and Gene Barry in Bat Masterson (1958)

Bat Masterson

Marie Jeanie Landry

TV Series

1960–1961

2 episodes

 

The Aquanauts (1960)

The Aquanauts

Valorie

TV Series

1961

1 episode

 

Death Valley Days (1952)

Death Valley Days

Emma Nevada

TV Series

1960

1 episode

 

Pat Conway in Tombstone Territory (1957)

Tombstone Territory

Belle ReedGwen Reed

TV Series

1960

1 episode

 

Five Fingers (1959)

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Chara

TV Series

1959

1 episode

 

Kraft Theatre (1947)

The United States Steel Hour

Olivia Beech

TV Series

1959

1 episode

 

John Paul Jones (1959)

John Paul Jones

Dorothea Danders

1959

 

The Bob Cummings Show (1955)

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Siniging Star

TV Series

1959

1 episode

 

James Garner and Jack Kelly in Maverick (1957)

Maverick

Victoria ForgeLinda Harris

TV Series

1957–1958

2 episodes

 

Edd Byrnes, Roger Smith, and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. in 77 Sunset Strip (1958)

77 Sunset Strip

Kathy AllenKaren Shay

TV Series

1958

1 episode

 

Erin O'Brien and Shepperd Strudwick in Girl on the Run (1958)

Girl on the Run

Kathy AllenKaren Shay

1958

 

Felicia Farr, Andy Griffith, and Erin O'Brien in Onionhead (1958)

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Josephine 'Jo' Hill

1958

 

Sugarfoot (1957)

Sugarfoot

Princess TaniaCharity Lloyd

TV Series

1958

2 episodes

 

Cheyenne (1955)

Cheyenne

Princess Maria FelitziaJuanita

TV Series

1957

1 episode

 

Wayde Preston in Colt .45 (1957)

Colt .45

Sister Helen MacGregor

TV Series

1957

1 episode

 

The Ray Anthony Show

TV Series

1957

1 episode