George O'Brien (April 19, 1899 – September 4, 1985) was an American actor, popular during the silent film era and into the talkie era of the 1930s, best known today as the lead actor in F. W. Murnau's 1927 film Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. He also starred in East Side, West Side (1927), The Johnstown Floor (1926), and John Ford's The Iron Horse (1924). The day before his seventh birthday the Great Earthquake of 1906 hit San Francisco. He and his family nearly died and were homeless for months. He served in World War I and World War II.
