Dave O'Brien (born David Poole Fronabarger;^[2] May 31, 1912 – November 8, 1969) was an American film actor, director, and screenwriter.

This section does not cite any sources. (June 2023)

Born in Big Spring, Texas, to Mike Fronabarger and his wife, Mary Edith, he started his film career performing in choruses and working as a stunt double^[2] before gradually winning larger roles, mostly in B pictures. He adopted "O'Brien" as his acting surname. He had roles in early Western movies such as Lightnin Crandall (1937), starring Bob Steele.

O'Brien acted in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer comedy short film series Pete Smith Specialties, narrated by Pete Smith. O'Brien wrote and directed many of these subjects under the name David Barclay. O'Brien also had a small dancing part with Bebe Daniels in the Busby Berkeley musical 42nd Street (1933).

He appeared in the first few of Monogram Pictures East Side Kids films, then appeared in many low-budget Westerns, such as Producers Releasing Corporation's Texas Rangers series, where he was often billed as "Tex O'Brien", alluding to his home state.

In 1940, he appeared in Queen of the Yukon, The Devil Bat, and Son of the Navy. In 1942, he starred in the movie serial Captain Midnight, and had the lead role in the Western Brand of the Devil in 1944. In 1945, he appeared in The Man Who Walked Alone. One of his later roles was in the MGM musical version of Kiss Me, Kate (1953), a rare featured role for the actor in an 'A' list big-budget production.

O'Brien portrayed a frantic dope addict in the 1936 low-budget exploitation film Tell Your Children (better known under its reissue title, Reefer Madness), yelling "Play it faster, play it faster!" to a piano-playing girl (Lillian Miles).

As a writer for The Red Skelton Show, O'Brien shared an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series in 1961 and shared a nomination for the same award in 1963.^[3]