Michael O'Shea (actor)

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Michael O'Shea
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
OccupationActor
Years active1930s–1971
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)
Grace Watts
​
​
(m. 1927; div. 1947)​
[1]
​
​
(m. 1947)​
[2]
Children3

Michael O'Shea (born Edward Francis Michael Patrick Joseph O'Shea; March 17, 1906 – December 4, 1973)

feature films
and later in television and whose career spanned the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.

Early life

O'Shea was born in Hartford, Connecticut on March 17, 1906, on St. Patrick's Day. He held jobs as a newspaper copy boy, a Western Union messenger, and a tobacco farmer [3] before making his debut in show business.

Career

O'Shea played drums and the banjo. Much like his character from Lady of Burlesque (1943), Biff Brannigan, O'Shea was a comedian and emcee at speakeasies. He put together his own dance band, "Michael O'Shea and His Stationary Gypsies", and later broke into radio and the "legitimate" stage, where he was billed for a time as "Eddie O'Shea". He worked on radio shows such as Superman, Mr District Attorney, The March of Time and Gangbuster.[4]

O'Shea received acclaim for his performance in the 1942 play The Eve of St. Mark on Broadway. The play was a hit and film producers began approaching O'Shea to do screen tests.[5]

Early films

O'Shea's work in Eve led to an offer to play Barbara Stanwyck's leading man in the film Lady of Burlesque (1943) for producer Hunt Stromberg, released through United Artists. It was a sizeable hit.[6]

Samuel Bronston offered him the title role in the biopic Jack London (1943), also released through United Artists. The cast included Virginia Mayo who would become O'Shea's second wife.[7]

O'Shea was asked to reprise his stage role in the film version of

20th Century Fox. That studio contracted him to make two more films.[8] Fox announced they would make Where Do We Go From Here? with him and Stanley Prager, also in Eve, but it appears not to have been made.[9]

O'Shea in Something for the Boys (1944)

He had the lead role in

Henry Kaiser for Republic Pictures, directed by Robert Florey. At Fox he made a musical, Something for the Boys (1944), with Carmen Miranda
.

O'Shea then went into It's a Pleasure! (1945), playing a hockey star who marries figure skater Sonja Henie, done for International Pictures. Back at Fox he had the lead in a B, Circumstantial Evidence (1945).

Return to Broadway

O'Shea returned to Broadway with a role in the revival of The Red Mill (1945–47), produced by Hunt Stromberg Jr. which ran for 531 performances.

Supporting actor in film

When the show finished he returned to films. He had a support part with Mr. District Attorney (1947) at Columbia.

He was

Last of the Redmen
 (1947), with Jon Hall at Columbia.

He had a supporting role in

Allied Artists, and the lead in Parole, Inc. (1949), for Eagle-Lion Films
.

He supported Mickey Rooney in The Big Wheel (1949) at United Artists, but had the lead in The Threat (1949) a "B" for RKO.

O'Shea supported

Sam Fuller, The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951) for George Cukor, and Bloodhounds of Broadway (1952).[4]

Television

After his career in film waned — he was largely out of films by 1952 — he took many roles in television. He acted in TV programs such as The Revlon Mirror Theater, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Damon Runyon Theater, and Schlitz Playhouse of Stars.

He had a supporting part in It Should Happen to You (1954).

It's a Great Life

He also starred in the

NBC sitcom It's a Great Life from 1954 to 1956 as Denny Davis, a former GI trying to find a civilian job. Frances Bavier played his landlady. He was nominated for an Emmy in 1955.[4]

He worked as a panelist on TV shows[10] and filmed a pilot for a TV sitcom with his wife Virginia Mayo, McGarry and His Mouse (1960) but it was not picked up for a series. He guest starred on episodes of Adventures in Paradise, Daktari and Adam-12. In 1964 he returned briefly to New York stage in a production I Was Dancing.[11]

Personal life

He was married twice. His first wife was Grace Watts, by whom he had two children. The marriage ended in divorce in 1947.[citation needed]

O'Shea with his wife Virginia Mayo, 1955

His second wife was actress Virginia Mayo, whom he married in 1947, and to whom he stayed married until his death from a heart attack in 1973. He met Mayo during the filming of Jack London in 1943. They subsequently appeared on the stock stage together in such productions as George Washington Slept Here, Tunnel of Love and Fiorello!. When he died of a heart attack he was in Dallas, about to go on tour with his wife in a production of Forty Carats.[4]

During their marriage, they had one child, Mary Catherine O'Shea, who was born in 1953.[12] That year O'Shea's first wife sued him for unpaid alimony.[13]

A

Dwight Eisenhower's campaign in the 1952 presidential election.[14]

In 1957 he pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm.

Catholic faith.[17]

Other employment

O'Shea kept up his

deputy sheriff in the Ventura County Sheriff's Office[18]

Partial filmography

References

  1. ^ "Billboard". July 5, 1947.
  2. ^ "Sunday Herald - Google News Archive Search". google.com. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
  3. ^
    ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved January 13, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d Michael O'Shea, Tough-Talking Actor The Washington Post and Times-Herald 6 Dec 1973: B22.
  5. ^ MR. O'SHEA, THE HARTFORD GYPSY By THEODORE STRAUSS. New York Times (18 Apr 1943: X3.
  6. ^ Scott Eyman, Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer, Robson, 2005 p 339
  7. ^ Michael O'Shea Debonair 'Jack London' Scheuer, Philip K. Los Angeles Times 14 Jan 1944: A9.
  8. ^ DRAMA AND FILM: Michael O'Shea May Portray Proxy Husband Edward Small Bids for Herbert Marshall to Appear Opposite Marlene Dietrich Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 4 Dec 1943: 7.
  9. ^ DRAMA AND FILM: O'Shea Promotes Jinni Deal for Actor Prager Ketti Frings' Story, 'The Red Sash,' May Be Produced as Film by Stromberg Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 19 Nov 1943: 14.
  10. ^ Virginia and the Speed Cars Clicked By Millicent Benner. The Washington Post and Times-Herald (1954-1959); Washington, D.C. [Washington, D.C]08 Oct 1956: 27.
  11. ^ Michael O'Shea, 67, Stage Actor Also in TV Series, Films, Dies: Started as Band Leader New York Times 5 Dec 1973: 43.
  12. ^ "Sunday Herald - Google News Archive Search".
  13. ^ O'SHEAS' FINANCIAL TROUBLE SETTLED Los Angeles Times 18 Mar 1953: A1.
  14. ^ Motion Picture and Television Magazine, December 1952, page 28, Ideal Publishers
  15. ^ Michael O'Shea Pleads Guilty to Gun Charge: Fired Two Shots at Tractor Tires Because Boys 'Hot-Rodded' It Near Home, He Says Los Angeles Times 4 Jan 1957: B1.
  16. ^ Michael O'Shea in Brawl Over Virginia Mayo Los Angeles Times 26 Aug 1959: 8.
  17. ^ Morning News, January 10, 1948, Who Was Who in America (Vol. 2).
  18. ^ p.7 Michael O'Shea is Claimed By Death Beaver County Times 5 Dec 1973

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michael O'Shea.
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