Favorite Face of the Day: Cyril O'Reilly

When I catch a re-run of Murder She Wrote on TV, I usually skip the episodes in which Jessica is traveling.  I like her firmly planed in Cabot Cove Maine solving mysteries by the seashore.  I especially avoided her trips to Ireland, which for some reason I never enjoyed.  I know the show's Maine scenes were shot in California, but some of the scenes from 'Ireland' were especially poorly shot.

Murder She Wrote (1988)

A few weeks back however, I stopped when watching a 1993 episode entitled 'A Killing in Cork.' I stopped not because of the story or the Irish countryside, but because of the handsome face lighting up the screen.  The actor was Cyril O'Reilly, who appeared in 3 episodes of the old CBS mystery show.  Even appeared shirtless, (above) in one, but not the Ireland set episode that I recently caught. 

Splendor in the Grass (1981)

I actually featured O'Reilly before in a small piece back in 2009 (HERE:)  One of my summer reads that year was Melissa Gilbert's autobiography, and she spoke glowingly about the actor.  The two dated briefly back in the early 1980's around the time they were making the television re-make of the classic Splendor In The Grass.  O'Reilly played Bud, the character Warren Beatty played in the original.

When I did that first post, I hadn't seen the re-make, but since found a copy and enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.  I usually hate re-makes, especially of classics, but O'Reilly was both engaging and compelling in the role. I also enjoyed the classic shower scene with Bud's friends. I posted about the original shower scene. (HERE:)  

In the original actor Gary Lockwood played Alan 'Toots' Tuttle, and in the re-make he's played by actor Jim Youngs.  I'm a big fan of Young's work in the 80's and previously featured him on FH (HERE:).  There is no nudity in either scene, and the re-make mostly focus's on faces, but those faces are incredibly hot.

Dance of the Damned (1989)

I've seen O'Reilly in a few of his old television guest roles the last year. In addition to Murder She Wrote, I also recently caught his appearance as prisoner Mike Kinney on repeat of a 2002 episode of ER.

ER (2002)

Porky's (1981)

Of course one of O'Reilly's most famous roles was in the Porky's series from the 80's.  O'Reilly played Tim in both the original Porky's and Porky's II, The Next Day.  Tim was sort of the groups 'leader' and was a part of the infamous 'cabin scene.'  I saw the Porky's series on VHS when I was a kid, and have loved looking back at the many scenes of male skin from the trilogy. 

You can't see much of O'Reilly in the DVD version of the cabin scene, but it does appear he was fully nude during the filming.  The old VHS version showed a bit more, and it appears there's a brief frontal when the guys walk to the back door at the end of the scene.  

Although the film does deal with issues of race and antisemitism, the cabin scene doesn't really hold up that well.  If you want to check it out though, I uploaded it on Sendpace HERE:  Below, O'Reilly is the one naked closet to the dressed man on the stairs.  Look closely and it appears to be a penis peak