Vince O'Brien

Vincent J. O'Brien (January 11, 1919 – June 19, 2010) was an American character actor whose career spanned stage, screen, and television across several decades. Born and raised in New Britain, Connecticut, he served in the United States Army during World War II before enrolling at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he earned a bachelor's degree in drama in 1949. The following year he relocated to New York City to begin his professional acting career.

O'Brien's physical appearance — a balding, mature look that made him seem older than his years — consistently drew him toward roles as authority figures. His son noted that this quality was evident even in the earliest stages of his career. Throughout the 1950s, he built his television résumé with appearances in 23 episodes of Westinghouse Studio One, one of which featured Walter Matthau among the cast.

His Broadway career ran from 1960 to 1968 and included the musical Promises, Promises. The database credit listed as Advise and Consent corresponds to stage productions outside of Broadway, as O'Brien also appeared in local productions of that play alongside Death of a Salesman and The Fantasticks.

On television during the 1960s, O'Brien appeared on the soap operas Dark Shadows and The Edge of Night. He returned to daytime drama on The Guiding Light twice, playing Colonel Grove Mason from 1969 to 1970 and later Dante "Pops Cooper" Kouperakis from 1987 to 1990. During the 1970s he also appeared on Ryan's Hope. In the 1990s he took on a recurring role as a judge on Law & Order, and his final film credits included Quiz Show and Six Degrees of Separation.

One of the most recognizable chapters of O'Brien's career came in the late 1960s and continued through much of the 1970s, when he served as the face of Shell Oil's print and television advertising campaign as the Shell Answer Man — a role he described as being like winning the lottery. He also appeared on film as a hotel doctor in Woody Allen's 1977 comedy Annie Hall.

O'Brien lived in Haworth, New Jersey, and died of heart failure on June 19, 2010, at the age of 91. He was buried at George Washington Memorial Park in Paramus, New Jersey. He was survived by his wife Kate, born Delphine Force, a daughter, four sons, five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. His son Conal O'Brien directed the soap opera All My Children from 1987 to 2009 and subsequently became a director on The Young and the Restless.