Darcy O'Brien
Darcy O'Brien | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 16, 1939 Los Angeles, California |
| Died | March 2, 1998 (aged 58) |
| Alma mater | Princeton University University of Cambridge University of California, Berkeley |
| Occupations |
|
| Children | 1 |
| Parent(s) | George O'Brien Marguerite Churchill |
| Relatives | Orin O'Brien (sister) |
Darcy O'Brien (July 16, 1939 – March 2, 1998) was an American author of fiction and literary criticism, most well known for his work in the genre of true crime. His first novel, A Way of Life, Like Any Other,[1] was a fictionalized account of his childhood in Hollywood. In 1985, he wrote a book about the Hillside Stranglers entitled Two of a Kind: The Hillside Stranglers,[2] which was adapted into a made-for-television film called The Case of the Hillside Stranglers, starring Richard Crenna.[3]
Biography
Darcy O'Brien was born in Los Angeles, the son of Hollywood silent film actor George O'Brien and actress Marguerite Churchill, a frequent co-star of John Wayne.[4] He attended Princeton University and University of Cambridge, and received a master's degree and doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. From 1965 to 1978 he was a professor of English at Pomona College. In 1978 he moved to Tulsa, and taught at the University of Tulsa until 1995.[5][6]
O'Brien was married three times. His daughter Molly O'Brien is a film producer and director. Molly won an Academy Award in 2025 for producing and directing The Only Girl in the Orchestra, which focused on Darcy's sister Orin O'Brien, a double bassist musician who was the first female member of the New York Philharmonic.
O'Brien died of a heart attack[7] in Tulsa, Oklahoma on March 2, 1998, aged 58.
Awards
- 1978: Ernest Hemingway Award for best first novel, A Way of Life, Like Any Other
- 1997: Edgar Allan Poe Award, Power to Hurt
O'Brien was inducted into the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame in 1997.[8]
Selected works
- A Way of Life, Like Any Other (1977 & 2001). New York: Norton. ISBN 978-0393087987. OCLC 3203215[4][3]
- Moment by Moment, novelization of screenplay by Jane Wagner (1979)[9]
- The Silver Spooner (1981)
- Two of a Kind: The Story of the Hillside Stranglers (1985)[3]
- Murder in Little Egypt (1989)
- Margaret in Hollywood (1991)
- A Dark and Bloody Ground (1993)
- Power to Hurt (1996)
- The Hidden Pope (1998)[8]
- The Conscience of James Joyce (2016)
References
- ↑ O'Brien, Darcy. (2001). A way of life, like any other. New York: New York Review Books. ISBN 094032279X. OCLC 46678088.
- ↑ O'Brien, Darcy. (1985). Two of a kind : the Hillside stranglers. New York, N.Y.: New American Library. ISBN 0453004997. OCLC 12106189.
- 1 2 3 "Darcy O'Brien; Author of 'True Crime' Books". Los Angeles Times. March 5, 1998. Retrieved November 26, 2025.
- 1 2 Cooke, Rachel (January 26, 2016). "Is A Way of Life, Like Any Other Hollywood's best coming-of-age tale?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved November 26, 2025.
- ↑ "Darcy Obrien '61 | Princeton Alumni Weekly". paw.princeton.edu. Retrieved February 22, 2026.
- ↑ Lyman, Rick (March 4, 1998). "Darcy O'Brien, 59, Author Of Fiction and 'True Crime'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 22, 2026.
- ↑ Lyman, Rick (March 4, 1998). "Darcy O'Brien, 59, Author Of Fiction and 'True Crime'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
- 1 2 "About Darcy O'Brien". The University of Tulsa. Retrieved November 26, 2025.
- ↑ Barker, B. M.; O'Brien, G. M.; O'Connell, R. F. (October 15, 1981). "Relativistic quadrupole moment". Physical Review D. 24 (8): 2332–2335. Bibcode:1981PhRvD..24.2332B. doi:10.1103/physrevd.24.2332. ISSN 0556-2821.
External links
- Darcy O'Brien at IMDb
- Lyman, Rick (March 4, 1998). "Darcy O'Brien, 59, Author Of Fiction and 'True Crime'". The New York Times. Retrieved October 21, 2019.