Erin O'Brien-Moore

Erin O'Brien-Moore (born Annette O'Brien-Moore, May 2, 1902 – May 3, 1979) was an American actress. She created the role of Rose in the original Broadway production of Elmer Rice's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Street Scene, and was put under contract in Hollywood and made a number of films in the 1930s. Her promising career on the stage and screen was interrupted by severe injuries she sustained in a 1939 fire. Following her recovery and extensive plastic surgery, she returned to the stage and character roles in films and television, including four seasons of the primetime serial drama Peyton Place (1965–1968).

Biography

Early life and beginning in the theater O'Brien-Moore was born in Los Angeles, to J.B.L. and Agnes O'Brien-Moore. Her father was publisher of the Tucson Citizen; her older brother was classical scholar Ainsworth O'Brien-Moore. She was educated at a convent in Arizona, and planned to become a painter until she saw Alla Nazimova on the stage, when she turned her attention to the theatre. She first appeared on Broadway in 1926 as a maid in The Makropoulos Secret. In 1928, O'Brien-Moore played the female lead in E.E. Cummings' Him at the Provincetown Playhouse. She was the star of Elmer Rice's Street Scene (1929), a naturalistic drama about life in a New York City tenement that ran for 601 performances on Broadway, toured throughout the United States, and received the Pulitzer Prize. During the play's six-month run in London, Aldous Huxley became an ardent fan of O'Brien-Moore and saw her performance at least three times.

Career in Hollywood

O'Brien-Moore's stage success led to a Hollywood contract and second-lead roles in films, including Black Legion (1937) with Humphrey Bogart. In The Life of Emile Zola (1937), with Paul Muni, she played the character who inspired the fictional character Nana.

Described by The New York Times as "a slender, dark-haired woman with fragile, beautiful features", O'Brien-Moore had a rising career that was interrupted by severe injuries she suffered January 22, 1939, in a fire. After she recovered from the accident, O'Brien-Moore resumed her acting career on radio, including Big Sister.

After extensive plastic surgery, O'Brien-Moore returned to the stage and resumed her career in films and television.

She co-starred with Charlie Ruggles in the sitcom The Ruggles (1950–1952), and in many series that included NBC Presents, General Electric Theater, Lux Video Theater, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Perry Mason ("The Case of the Deadly Verdict"). She portrayed Miss Kelly in the 1961 pilot episode "The Return" of the series Window on Main Street (1961–62), appeared in a 1965 episode of Kentucky Jones and played the role of Nurse Esther Choate in the TV version of Peyton Place for four seasons (1965–1968).

O'Brien-Moore died of cancer on May 3, 1979, at the Motion Picture Country Hospital in Los Angeles.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1934 His Greatest Gamble Florence Stebbins Dangerous Corner Freda Chatfield Little Men Jo Bhaer 1935 Our Little Girl Sarah Boynton Streamline Express Mary Bradley Seven Keys to Baldpate Myra Thornhill 1936 Two in the Dark Olga Konar The Leavenworth Case Mrs. Silas (Gloria) Leavenworth Ring Around the Moon Gloria Endicott The Ex-Mrs. Bradford Mrs. Summers The Plough and the Stars Rosie 1937 Black Legion Ruth Taylor Green Light Pat Arlen The Life of Emile Zola Nana 1950 Destination Moon Emily Cargraves 1951 The Family Secret Ellen Clark 1953 Sea of Lost Ships Mrs. Nora O'Malley 1954 Phantom of the Rue Morgue Wardrobe Woman 1955 The Long Gray Line Mrs. Koehler 1957 Peyton Place Mrs. Evelyn Page 1961 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Mrs. Linda Harper Season 6 Episode 31: "The Gloating Place"1962 Mooncussers Mrs. Feather 1967 How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying Gertrude Biggley uncredited