Eugene O'Brien

Eugene O'Brien, the silent screen matinée idol, was born Louis O'Brien in Boulder, Colorado in 1881, to police marshal John O'Brien and his wife Kate. He studied medicine at the University of Colorado in order to realize his family's ambition that he should become a physician. O'Brien's first love, however, was the stage, but his family disapproved of acting as a profession. He was not keen on becoming a doctor, so he proved to be an unenthusiastic student. After flunking pre-med, O'Brien switched to civil engineering under his family's guidance, but his heart was still set on becoming an actor.