Morning Man Classic: George O’Brien!

His nickname was ‘the chest.’

He’s George O’Brien, a handsome American leading man of classic silent films who became a different kind of star in B-Western talkies.

Director John Ford picked virtually unknown George to star in his first picture, The Iron Horse (1924).

Over the next two years, he would appear in four more Ford films and would co-star with Janet Gaynor in The Blue Eagle (1926) and Sunrise (1927).

At the outbreak of World War II, O’Brien reenlisted in the Navy, served for a time as a recruit trainer, then participated in numerous island invasions in the Pacific Theater and was highly decorated. He played a few roles, particularly for Ford, after the war, but returned to naval duty in the Korean conflict and again during the Vietnam war.