It’s Never Too Late to Tie the Knot

Although U.S. actor Hugh O’Brian is certainly better known for his starring role in the 1955-1961 TV series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, a highly romanticized read on one of the American West’s most memorable characters, he was also among the rotating leads in a 1972 high-tech thriller series called Search. In that single-season show, O’Brian played Hugh Lockwood, one of three special agents working for Probe, an international private investigations firm (Tony Franciosa and Doug McClure shared the limelight in alternating episodes).

The series was heavy on jet-setting adventures and “cool” turtlenecks and callipygous lovelies blessedly short on inhibitions. Lockwood, like his fellows, wore a camera cleverly hidden in a medallion; and between that and an earpiece that allowed him access to a huge central database of information, he stayed in contact with Probe headquarters, while his supervisors kept a watch on his sometimes off-the-reservation antics.

I bring all of this up, only because TV Squad is reporting that the now 81-year-old O’Brian just got married--for the very first time. The bride was his longtime girlfriend, 54-year-old Virginia Barber. With the theme “A Wedding to Die For,” the ceremony was not your everyday affair. Writes TV Squad’s Joel Keller:

Adhering to the morbid theme, it was held in a cemetery. Among the 300 attendees were look-alikes of deceased notables Elvis Presley and Pope John Paul II. Debbie Reynolds (not a look-alike; she's still with us) sang, and the ceremony was conducted by the Rev. Robert Schuller, pastor of the Crystal Cathedral. Wow. I know people sometimes say that after you get married, a little part of you dies, but this is ridiculous.

What would ol’ Wyatt have thought?

READ MORE: “TV’s ‘Wyatt Earp’ Marries for First Time” (AP).