Like many other child actors, William Stephens O’Brien (1921-44) died young, but in his case heroically, when he was shot down during a mission in the South Pacific.
O’Brien made his debut aged 5, in a Hal Roach short. A few years later he played in Frank Borzage’s Lucky Star (1929). His first featured role was in The Lone Trail (1932), a Poverty Row western, and he continued to act, usually without credit, until he joined up following the attack on Pearl Harbour.
In 1933, O’Brien made a brief appearance in Stage Mother.
