John Dennis Patrick O'Brian (August 16, 1914 – November 5, 2000) was an American entertainment journalist best known for his longtime role as a television critic for New York Journal American.

Career

A supporter of Senator Joseph McCarthy, O'Brian wrote a series of red-baiting attacks on CBS News and WCBS TV reporter Don Hollenbeck, accusing him of having Communist sympathies. These attacks may have been a major factor in Hollenbeck's eventual suicide in 1954, and are referenced in the 1986 film Murrow and the 2005 film Good Night, and Good Luck. After the death of Dorothy Kilgallen, his colleague at the Journal American, in November 1965, O'Brian took over her old Voice of Broadway column.

Personal and death

O'Brian was married to Yvonne Johnston, who died in 1996. They were the parents of two daughters, Bridget and Kate O'Brian, who was president of Al Jazeera America.