Back in the Saddle

To television’s first generation, Hugh O’Brian is Wyatt Earp--brave, courageous and bold. For seven seasons, beginning in 1955, he mopped up the towns of Ellsworth, Dodge City and Tombstone.

But now, after a long absence, O’Brian’s back in “Twins”--playing the father of Arnold Schwarzenneger and Danny DeVito.

O’Brian hasn’t exactly been idle since Earp. In 1958, following an invitation to meet and work with Dr. Albert Schweitzer in Africa, he established HOBY, the Hugh O’Brian Youth Foundation. The focus of the program is motivation seminars for high school sophomores and, in his words, the opportunity for “the leaders of tomorrow to meet the leaders of today.”

“Since we went national in 1978, I’ve been putting in a 70-hour week. But it’s time to reheat my career and let others handle the day-to-day stuff,” O’Brian says.

He notes, of course, that even a small role in a big hit has enormous value. His only other film in the past decade--as an ex-presidential candidate in Charles Matthau’s comedy “Doin’ Time on Planet Earth”--still awaits theatrical release.

Remarkably fit at 63, O’Brian credits his longevity to practical considerations (“only drive one car, live in one house, etc.”), having a life outside show business and maintaining a sense of humor about Hollywood.

“Going to Africa was the most important thing in my life,” he observes. “Norman Cousins, who was the editor of Saturday Review, engineered it and I can still remember the cable: ‘Dr. O’Brian and his company will be welcome.’

“It wasn’t till I left that I told Schweitzer I was an actor. He just looked at me and said, ‘How will you take advantage of what you’ve seen and heard?’ He provided me with the challenge of my life.”