Hugh O'Brian | |
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O'Brian in 1964
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Born |
Hugh Charles Krampe April 19, 1925 Rochester, New York, U.S. |
Died | September 5, 2016 Beverly Hills, California, U.S. |
(aged 91)
Alma mater | University of California |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1948–2000; 2016 |
Spouse(s) | Virginia Barber (m. 2006–16) (his death) |
Children | Hugh Donald Etkes |
Website | hughobrian |
Hugh O'Brian (born Hugh Charles Krampe; April 19, 1925 – September 5, 2016) was an American actor and humanitarian, best known for his starring roles in the ABC western television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–1961) and the NBC action television series Search (1972–1973), as well as films including the Agatha Christie adaptation Ten Little Indians (1965); he also had a notable supporting role in John Wayne's last film, The Shootist (1976). He was highly regarded for creating the Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Foundation, a non-profit youth leadership development program for high school scholars which has sponsored over 400,000 students since he founded the program in 1958 following an extended visit with Nobel Peace Prize-winning theologian and physician Albert Schweitzer.
O'Brian was born Hugh Charles Krampe in Rochester, New York, the son of Hugh John Krampe, a United States Marine Corps officer and executive at the Armstrong Cork Company, and Edith Lillian (née Marks) Krampe. His paternal grandparents were German immigrants; his mother was half German-Jewish and half English and Scottish ancestry.
O'Brian moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with his parents around 1930 when he was approximately five-years old. His father was an executive with the Armstrong Cork Company, which was headquartered in the Pennsylvania city. The Krampe family first lived at the Stevens House Hotel before moving to the newly developed School Lane Hills houses on the city's West End. O'Brian attended Lancaster city elementary schools. The Krampes resided in Lancaster for about four years before they moved to Chicago, where his father took another position with Armstrong Cork Company. Years later, Hugh O'Brian was awarded the key to the city by Lancaster Mayor George Coe in 1963.