# ‘Babylon 5′ creator explains the sad story behind Michael O’Hare’s departure **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 30, 2013, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688 "2013-05-30T05:59:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/21 "2013-05-30T14:41:02Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I saw O’Hare at a Lunacon… Not trying to be insensitive, but this is an unfortunate pairing in this context. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/22 "2013-05-30T15:18:15Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > [Yes!](https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/576738_10151470062898581_1102963406_n.jpg) Isn’t that Mira Furlan and Claudia Christian? Or is that Tallman’s cleavage behind them? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![FlightlessBird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@FlightlessBird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlightlessBird)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/23 "2013-05-30T15:21:25Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I’m looking at her main group picture. Who is the dude with the mustache in the upper left corner? John C Flinn III (found in comments and kinda verified by looking him up on imdb and comparing the photos:) Director of Photography Also further down in the comments from Claudia…he’s her ex. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/24 "2013-05-30T15:48:04Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Isn’t that Mira Furlan and Claudia Christian? Or is that Tallman’s cleavage behind them? 😛 Oops, grabbed the wrong photo. [Try this](https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/431936_468845366525332_2032239182_n.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/25 "2013-05-30T16:44:26Z")
JMS has always been protective of O’Hare, and always said there’s more to the story. Now we know what it is. Thanks for posting that, Foggy. I always liked O’Hare as Commander. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/26 "2013-05-30T16:53:07Z")
> [@Helena330](#): > > JMS has always been protective of O’Hare, and always said there’s more to the story. Now we know what it is. Thanks for posting that, Foggy. > > I always liked O’Hare as Commander. I thought he was a little wooden, but I thought that was just part of the common problems with a first season. (Characters still need to be fleshed out, and the actors need to grow into the role, as well as figure out their characters inner motivations.) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/27 "2013-05-30T18:49:41Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > I thought he was a little wooden, but I thought that was just part of the common problems with a first season. (Characters still need to be fleshed out, and the actors need to grow into the role, as well as figure out their characters inner motivations.) I know a fair number of military [both officers and enlisted - comes with being a military brat then spouse] and some officers are pretty wooden in ‘officer work mode’ so I figured he was playing him like that he did relax in his few off work moments in the show somewhat, so it fits. And as to being attracted to the malefolks, I always liked Garibaldi, Londo and G’kar more or less in that order. Londo always struck me as a great tragic figure -in The War Prayer the reason he helps the 2 kids: > [@](#): > > **Vir:** Kiron may die because our “glorious” tradition values wealth and power over _love._ > **Londo:** My shoes are too tight. > **Vir:** Excuse me? > **Londo:** Something my father said. He was old, very old at the time. I went into his room, and he was sitting alone in the dark, crying. So I asked him what was wrong, and he said, “My shoes are too tight, but it doesn’t matter, because I have forgotten how to dance.” I never understood what that meant until now. _My_ shoes are too tight, and I have forgotten how to dance. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/28 "2013-05-30T20:12:53Z")
Thanks for the info. I also liked Sinclair. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/29 "2013-05-30T20:21:06Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I know a fair number of military [both officers and enlisted - comes with being a military brat then spouse] and some officers are pretty wooden in ‘officer work mode’ so I figured he was playing him like that he did relax in his few off work moments in the show somewhat, so it fits. Remember also that Boxleitner came in as a handshaking, backslapping, grinning not-quite-boob… so that he could grow into the hardass commander role. We don’t know that JMS might have had a reason to let MOH be so stiff in the early days. > [@](#): > > Londo always struck me as a great tragic figure I view B5 as Londo’s story. Even if he’s not in the picture, events tend to swirl around him and the Centauri. He even has the bookend narrative - right from frame one: “I was there… at the beginning.” ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/30 "2013-05-31T15:00:47Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > \>snip!\< > (Unfortunately, I look more like Marcus than Michael… but I comfort myself by believing I’m closest in personality to G-man.) Ah… G-man. Let me count the ways… 😃 Where is the G-man these days anyway??? On a more serious note, I was blown away by this revelation about O’Hare. Completely clueless. I always like him in the part and I was a devoted B5ver back in the day. I had no idea he’d died, let alone was so ill for so long. _‘Fair winds and following seas,’_ Commander. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/31 "2013-05-31T16:02:43Z")
> [@Scubaqueen](#): > > Ah… G-man. Let me count the ways… 😃 Where is the G-man these days anyway??? He ran for office as a fairly hard R, and had/has a radio show with a devoted not-as-insane-as-Limbaugh following. His day job when he got the role was executive jet pilot. Maybe he went back to that. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/32 "2013-05-31T16:12:06Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > He ran for office as a fairly hard R, and had/has a radio show with a devoted not-as-insane-as-Limbaugh following. > > His day job when he got the role was executive jet pilot. Maybe he went back to that. According to the Talk Radio Network, he still has his radio gig. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/33 "2013-05-31T17:33:18Z")
Remember when Marcus sacrificed himself for Ivanova, and she was crying, saying _“I should have boffed him at least once!”_, Dr. Franklin? If I could have “boffed” anyone on that show it would have been Garibaldi. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/34 "2013-05-31T20:16:29Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > He ran for office as a fairly hard R, and had/has a radio show with a devoted not-as-insane-as-Limbaugh following. > > His day job when he got the role was executive jet pilot. Maybe he went back to that. A friend of mine who listens to his show says Doyle once characterized O’Hare as a “tool”. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/35 "2013-05-31T20:33:13Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > A friend of mine who listens to his show says Doyle once characterized O’Hare as a “tool”. Here is what Jerry Doyle said about him. It was quite famous when said it: > [@](#): > > My first season of Babylon 5 working with Michael O’Hare, he’s a whack-job a complete lunatic. He flies out from New York, he gets the gig, we’re doing our rehearsels he says to me one day “Uh can you give me a ride out the the set?” yeah sure! “Wanna stop and have breakfeast?” yeah good! He gets in the car and he’s playing with the buttons in my car trying to turn the radio off and I’m like what are you doing? And he goes “I don’t want any sound” and I go well why dont you just ask me to turn it off? And he goes “I dont want to talk today!” And I say well why do you want to go to breakfeast and he goes “you talk, I’ll listen!” so obviously we hurry through breakfeast, we go out to the set and I realise I’m dealing with a complete nut-job here. > > After we finished that first Friday night we go to this bar in Santa Clarita and I’m off in one corner talking to this actress Pat Tallman..just chatting her up having drinks we just got done shooting. He comes over and sits between us and I go oh ok…he was number 1 on the call sheet, he was the lead. He was the guy that got all the media interviews..because he was the lead on the show, and the face and voice on Babylon 5. So he’s chatting her up and I’m like “Oh..ok..I’ll just talk to the bartender here…” and order 3 more drinks. He turns around, looks at the 3 drinks and says “What is that?” and I say “umm…I’m buying a round..”, and he says “Dont try to control me!!” and I went “oh..o…k…” this guy is a complete lunatic! > > Now outside of the fact that he sexually harrassed an 18 year old makeup artist and hair gal because he’s talking about how its lonely to be on the road and well he did certain things at night with her in mind I thought thats a very nice thing to address to an 18 year old that was interning on a show, not making any money trying to work her way up in the union. > > He punches a female actress on the set. He comes after me we have the big meeting. Finally I say to him “Michael is there an Indian behind every tree?” and he says “maybe..you and I will settle this May 26 after we wrap production” And at the end of all this I went back to the guys and said you know what? I don’t need this crap..I dont need the money ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/36 "2013-05-31T20:34:15Z")
I should point out that I have no idea if Doyle knew about O’Hare’s mental illness. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/37 "2013-05-31T23:21:29Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Remember also that Boxleitner came in as a handshaking, backslapping, grinning not-quite-boob… so that he could grow into the hardass commander role. We don’t know that JMS might have had a reason to let MOH be so stiff in the early days. Plus his character had survived _The Line_ after deciding to go out in a blaze of glory _and_ getting his brain run through a wringer by the Mimbari. Having him be a quiet, low-key commander always struck me as appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/38 "2013-06-01T06:36:56Z")
Wow… that quote from Doyle is… sad, considering. I doubt Doyle knew anything. Very sad. ---
**Author:** ![Monkey\_Chews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Monkey\_Chews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey_Chews)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688/39 "2013-06-01T08:12:59Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I think he was still going to end the Shadow War by the end of the fourth season, just not so early. According to JMS, the 4th season was originally going to end around the point of “Intersections In Real Time”, with the war against Earth having started, but not completed. The Shadow War was always going to end in the 4th season. Well, by the time they were that far into the series anyway - the original plan was for the bulk of the Shadow War to take place in the potential sequel/spin-off series, Babylon Prime. > [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > For a non-actress, I think she did a hell of a job with that role. Huh? She was an actress (and then later a stunt performer, but first an actress.) > [@Mahaloth](#): > > I should point out that I have no idea if Doyle knew about O’Hare’s mental illness. Apparently he did not - no-one did except JMS himself, and he promised to keep it that way. O’Hare gave JMS permission to tell the story after he had died. Doyle apparently refused to work with O’Hare any more by the end of the 1st season, which is why “War Without End” is pretty carefully structured to have no scenes between Sinclair and Garibaldi. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/babylon-5-creator-explains-the-sad-story-behind-michael-o-hare-s-departure/659688.md?page=1)