Episode 75 - Trials of O'Brien (Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
Jack Mooney
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 September 2014
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Edmond O'Brien is back, bringing his intensity to the action-packed expense account of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. As a birthday tribute to the Oscar winner, we present two episodes from his run as America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator. First, it's "The London Matter" (originally aired on CBS on June 22, 1950), and then we'll hear "The Joan Sebastian Matter" (originally aired on October 28, 1950).
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The This week we're tipping our hat to Academy Award winner Edmund O'Brien. |
| 0:27.0 | The big and small screen star was born September 10th, 1915, and in his honor this week, we've got two episodes where he |
| 0:37.2 | stars as America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator, |
| 0:41.4 | yours truly, Johnny Dollar. |
| 0:45.0 | O'Brien worked steadily in films since his 1938 debut, with performances in The Killers, White Heat, and the film noir classic DOA. In 1949, he starred in the audition program for Nightbeat. Ultimately, that show went to series on February 6th, 1950 with Frank Lovejoy starring as Chicago |
| 1:10.1 | reporter Randy Stone, but three days earlier across the dial on CBS, Edmund O'Brien |
| 1:17.2 | went on the air as Johnny Dollar. O'Brien inherited the series from actor Charles Russell, who played Dollar for the first 34 episodes. |
| 1:27.0 | Russell's Dollar had been glib, closer in spirits say to Dick Powell's Richard Diamond. |
| 1:34.3 | His adventures had colorful titles such as Mother Call My Draft Board, I'm leaving the country again. |
| 1:41.6 | But O'Brien brought a world-weary cynicism to the part, and it was a tone that |
| 1:46.7 | informed the portrayals of every actor who followed in the role. Russell's Dollar would playfully pad his expense account while O'Brien was all |
| 1:56.4 | business. His Johnny dollar was short-tempered and rougher around the edges. He wasn't above using intimidation and pressure to get answers. |
| 2:06.2 | He was cut from the Philip Marlow cloth and the series improved with his performance. |
| 2:12.2 | O'Brien starred in 103 episodes. with his one hundred three episodes as Johnny Dollar |
| 2:16.2 | ultimately leaving with the broadcast of September 3rd |
| 2:20.0 | 1952 his 103 shows are second only to Bob Bailey, who starred his Dollar from 1955 until 1960. |
| 2:30.0 | When O'Brien left the series, Johnny Dollar took a brief hiatus before returning in November with John Lund in the title role. |
| 2:39.0 | Two years after Johnny Dollar, Edmund O'Brien won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for |
| 2:46.1 | his role in The Barefoot Contessa. |
| 2:49.1 | He worked extensively in films and television through the 1960s and 1970s with two starring TV |
| 2:56.1 | series roles to his credit. He picked up another Oscar nomination for his work in |
| 3:01.8 | Seven Days in May and he guest-starred on TV shows including Mission Impossible, |
... |
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