Willis H. O'Brien(1886-1962)

Director
Special Effects
Writer

Willis H. O'Brien in Monsieur Joe (1949)

In 1949, 16 years after his ground-breaking work on the 1933 film "King Kong", Willis O'Brien worked as Chief Technician on another gorilla film for Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Shoedsack titled "Mighty Joe Young". A young Ray Harryhausen would do most of the animation, but O'Brien did come up with the designs for the film. At the 1950 Academy Awards, O'Brien was awarded an Oscar for Best Visual Effects for "Mighty Joe Young". This, along with "King Kong", are often considered his greatest achievements.

IMDbProStarmeter See rank

Awards
- 2 wins

Photos9

Merian C. Cooper, Willis H. O'Brien, Ernest B. Schoedsack, and Fay Wray in King Kong (1933)

Ian Batchelor, Primo Carnera, Karl 'Killer' Davis, William 'Wee Willie' Davis, Henry Kulky, Man Mountain Dean, Sammy Menacker, Terry Moore, Willis H. O'Brien, Phil Olafsson, Ivan Rasputin, Ernest B. Schoedsack, Sammy Stein, and Robert Johnson in Monsieur Joe (1949)

Known for:

King Kong

7.9

Additional Crew

1933

La Montagne mystérieuse

4.1

Writer(as Willis O'Brien)

1956

Le monde perdu

7.0

Special Effects(uncredited)

1925

Monsieur Joe

7.0

Special Effects(as Willis O'Brien)

1949

Credits

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IMDbPro

Director

Creation
7.0
Short
- Director (uncredited)
- 1931
Along the Moonbeam Trail
6.2
Short
- Director
- 1920
The Ghost of Slumber Mountain
6.0
Short
- Director (uncredited)
- 1918
Curious Pets of Our Ancestors
Short
- Director
- 1917
The Birth of a Flivver
Short
- Director
- 1917
The Dinosaur and the Baboon
Short
- Director
- 1917
R.F.D. 10,000 B.C.
5.8
Short
- Director
- 1917
Prehistoric Poultry
5.5
Short
- Director
- 1916
Morpheus Mike
6.0
Short
- Director
- 1915
The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy
6.1
Short
- Director
- 1915

Special Effects

Le scorpion noir
5.4
- supervisor of special effects (as Willis O'Brien)
- 1957
Monsieur Joe
7.0
- technical creator (as Willis O'Brien)
- 1949
Le fils de Kong
5.6
- special effects technician (uncredited)
- 1933
Creation
7.0
Short
- special effects (uncredited)
- 1931
Le monde perdu
7.0
- special effects (uncredited)
- 1925
The Ghost of Slumber Mountain
6.0
Short
- special effects (uncredited)
- 1918
R.F.D. 10,000 B.C.
5.8
Short
- special effects
- 1917
Prehistoric Poultry
5.5
Short
- special effects
- 1916
Morpheus Mike
6.0
Short
- special effects
- 1915
The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy
6.1
Short
- special effects
- 1915

Writer

Emilio and His Magical Bull
- original story
- 1975
La vallée de Gwangi
6.2
- earlier film project "Gwangi" (uncredited)
- 1969
King Kong contre Godzilla
5.7
- story "King Kong vs. Frankenstein" (uncredited)
- 1963
Kingu Kongu tai Gojira
6.3
- story "King Kong vs. Prometheus" (uncredited)
- 1962
La Montagne mystérieuse
4.1
- from an idea by (as Willis O'Brien)
- 1956
Creation
7.0
Short
- Writer (uncredited)
- 1931
The Ghost of Slumber Mountain
6.0
Short
- Writer (uncredited)
- 1918

Personal details

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Alternative name
- Willis O'Brien
Born
- March 2, 1886
- Oakland, California, USA
Died
- November 8, 1962
- Los Angeles, California, USA(heart attack)
Spouses
Publicity listings
- 5 Print Biographies
- 5 Articles

Did you know

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Trivia
O'Brien's first marriage to Hazel Collette was a troubled and uneasy affair. By 1930 it had been dissolved, but not before having produced two sons, William and Willis Jr. Hazel suffered from tuberculosis and was often heavily sedated. The disease then spread to William and blinded him. In the fall of 1933, during the production of the film Le fils de Kong (1933), Hazel shot and killed her two sons and then turned the gun on herself. She survived the incident, but died from cancer and tuberculosis soon afterward.