(Courtesy of Les Adams) Above, O'Brien and Beatrice Roberts in PARK AVENUE LOGGER (George Hirliman/RKO, 1937).  About a year later, Roberts would do her most remembered role portraying 'Queen Azura' in the serial FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS (Universal, 1938). (From Old Corral collection) Above from left to right are: Frank O'Connor, Rita Oehmen, George O'Brien and Paul Everton in a 1947 re-release lobby card from GUN LAW (RKO, 1938). (From Old Corral collection) Laraine Johnson, shown far right (green jacket) in this 1947 re-release lobby card from BORDER G-MAN (RKO, 1938), would become better known as Laraine Day. She made three oaters with O'Brien. The gal with the green riding pants is Rita La Roy. (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above from L-to-R are Carl Stockdale, Rosalind Keith, Tom Chatterton, Lloyd Ingraham (as a judge), George O'Brien, unidentified guy (holding his hat), and Jack O'Shea in a scene from O'Brien's TROUBLE IN SUNDOWN (RKO, 1939). (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above is the title lobby card from THE FIGHTING GRINGO (RKO, 1939). The female lead is Mexican actress Lupita Tovar who may be best remembered by B western fans as the love interest to Gene Autry in SOUTH OF THE BORDER (Republic, 1939). She was also featured in Universal's Spanish language version of DRACULA. In the early 1930s, Tovar married producer and later agent Paul Kohner and they had two children, producer Pancho Kohner and actress Susan Kohner. (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above from left to right are Howard Hickman, Virginia Vale, George O'Brien and Charles 'Slim' Whitaker in a still from BULLET CODE (RKO, 1940). Whitaker portrayed O'Brien's sidekick "Pop Norton" in this film.

George O'Brien Filmography Sound films only includes westerns, non-westerns, starring and supporting roles:      Blue = non westerns      Red = George Hirliman productions for RKO release      Green = Sol Lesser productions for Fox release Special thanks to Les Adams for providing this filmography

Footnotes and tidbits:

Note the name of David Howard in the director column above. Howard (1896-1941) cut his teeth in early Hollywood working on Spanish language film versions. He was a co-director for Nat Levine in a couple of Mascot cliffhangers, MYSTERY SQUADRON (1933) and THE LOST JUNGLE (1934). His first film with O'Brien was THE RAINBOW TRAIL (Fox, 1932), the sequel to THE RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE. He and O'Brien collaborated on a total of 25 films, including George's last series western, TRIPLE JUSTICE (RKO, 1940). When O'Brien retired, Howard helmed the initial films in the Tim Holt series at RKO. If you like O'Brien's films, give some credit to director David Howard.

Note the approximate ten month gap between WINDJAMMER (George A. Hirliman/RKO, 1937) and GUN LAW (1938), O'Brien's first western made directly by RKO. There is some scuttlebutt that George Hirliman sold O'Brien's contract to RKO. But I have a February, 1938 Boxoffice trade paper article about O'Brien agreeing to a release from a new six picture deal with the Condor (Hirliman) production unit which had been forced into involuntary bankruptcy. The article reports that the bankruptcy trustee had obtained a court order freeing O'Brien from his contract and that "O'Brien had asked for the release in order to sign with RKO Radio ...". Other comments in the article are "O'Brien cancels his claims for $135,000 which would have been due him in salary if the Condor films had been produced, in addition to a 15 per cent share of the profits. Production starts almost immediately on the first O'Brien vehicle for RKO Radio, an untitled western which Bert Gilroy will produce ..." and "O'Brien still holds claim to 15 per cent of the profits on four pictures previously produced by Condor for RKO Radio ..."

In the updated version of Don Miller's Hollywood Corral by Packy Smith and Ed Hulse (Riverwood Press, 1993), there's a chapter authored by Karl Thiede on the costs and financing of the B-western.  Included are the negative costs as well as domestic and foreign rentals for O'Brien's sixteen westerns for RKO which were released 1938 - 1940. In summary, the negative costs ran $75,000 - $96,000 per film, and the filming / production days ranged from 8 - 13 days. Each film brought in over $100,000 in domestic rentals, and the foreign/overseas rentals added more to RKO's bottom line.