Born in Milwaukee to Irish immigrants, Pat O'Brien early on discovered a love of performing on stage. He spent many years struggling to survive as he as an actor mainly in New York. Financial security was achieved when Howard Hughes brought him to Hollywood for a part in the film adaption of The Front Page.

This is a lengthy biography that is full of anecdotes about famous actors both from the stage and the movies. I found Pat's tours entertaining the troops in WW II especially interesting. Pat was a Roman Catholic and his faith was a very important part of his life and he covers a lot of pages talking about it including a trip to Rome to meet Pope Pius XII.

One interesting opinion he expressed about the end of WW II was that the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan was unnecessary as Japan was ready to give up anyway. I think this an unusual thought from someone writing in 1962. He did abhor war and frequently mentioned in the book the thought that he wondered why mankind kept making war on one another. ( )