Bernadette O’Brien, Emmy-Nominated Costumer on ‘MacGyver,’ Dies at 90
Bernadette O’Brien, a costume designer, wardrobe supervisor and Emmy-nominated costumer who worked on TV’s Murder, She Wrote and MacGyver and films including the Bette Midler-starring For the Boys, has died. She was 90.
O’Brien died Monday in her sleep at an assisted living facility in Spokane, Washington, her grandson Robinson O’Brien-Bours told The Hollywood Reporter.
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O’Brien also handled costumes for the features Vice Squad (1982), House (1985), Mobsters (1991), Another Stakeout (1993) and Cries of Silence (1996); for the TV series T.J. Hooker and Beyond Belief: Fact of Fiction; and for the 2000 telefilm American Tragedy.
She received her Emmy nomination in 1992 (shared with Thomas Welsh) for their work on an King Arthur-themed episode of ABC’s MacGyver.
Born in Dublin on March 29, 1934, Helen Bernadette Brady and her husband, Jack, immigrated to the U.S. in 1955 and settled in Cleveland. Having learned to sew as a youngster, she found costuming work on theatrical productions in the city, taught costume design at a local university and worked with the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in town.
She moved to Los Angeles in 1977 to kick off her career as a costume designer and wardrobe stylist and eventually became a member of the Television Academy and the Costume Designers Branch of the Motion Picture Academy.
While visiting her home country with Murder, She Wrote star Angela Lansbury during a shoot for the 1990 film The Love She Sought, O’Brien decided to purchase a home there. She acquired land in the village of Boolavogue, close to where she spent holidays during World War II, planted a lavender farm and ran a business from it, with the locals dubbing her the Lavender Lady.
O’Brien spent every summer in Ireland going forward, splitting her time between her farm and her home in the Bungalow Heaven neighborhood of Pasadena.
Her St. Patrick’s Day parties each year drew hundreds of guests to enjoy her corned beef and scones while listening to traditional Irish music.
Survivors include her daughters, Valerie, Patricia and Kathleen; her grandchildren, Jennifer, Caitlin, Robinson, Elinor, Liam, Hannah, Mairead, Daisy, Declan and Connor); and nine great-grandchildren. Her son, musician and composer John O’Brien, died in 2011.
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