X-Men Origins: Wolverine star lists Glenelg family home

He has brought iconic roles to life in some of the country’s best loved television shows and movies, and now actor Peter O’Brien is hoping to hit all the right notes when he sells his Glenelg home.

O’Brien’s late parents Betty and Jack bought the 5 Percival St, Glenelg home as a holiday house in the mid-’60s while the family were living on a farm in Tailem Bend.

They eventually moved into the home while Peter was at school and university, with the family returning to the farm on weekends and holidays.

“It was two semis at the time and we’d stay in half and rent out the other half, and eventually we took the whole thing over,” O’Brien says.

O’Brien, right, with Guy Pearce on the set of Neighbours. Picture: Twitter Peter O’Brien

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O’Brien starring alongside wife Miranda Otto in The Unusual Suspects. Photo: Joel Pratley

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The Sacred Heart College, and Adelaide and Flinders University alumni – who would later go on to play memorable roles in Neighbours, The Flying Doctors, Cardiac Arrest, Water Rats, White Collar Blue, Casualty, Queer As Folk and X-Men Origins: Wolverine – took ownership of the home when the last of his parents passed away a decade ago, and has both rented the property and lived in it from time to time since.

“Those Californian bungalows all have that big veranda and most people turned them into sunrooms, and the sunroom was my bedroom while we had half the house and when we took over the whole house I took another room inside,” O’Brien says.

Based in Sydney with wife, fellow actor and Lord of The Rings star Miranda Otto, and their daughter, after having previously lived in the States and the UK, O’Brien says the home had been a fantastic base during his SA work stints or family visits.

“It’s a great old house and you don’t realise its proximity to everything until you actually live there,” he said.

O’Brien teams up with Rebecca Gibney team up in the six part drama ‘The Killing Field’. Picture David Moir 1/8/2014.

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O’Brien’s childhood home at 5 Percival St, Glenelg. Supplied

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The property’s impressive location, close to the beach, Glenelg’s amenities, and perhaps most importantly, a range of great pubs. Supplied

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“It became the springboard place – everyone would drop in and you’d go down to the beach for a swim, or you’d go to the bay for a feed or a drink, or into town on the tram.

“Tons of my friends would just pop in either to catch up with me or they’d just sit and talk to Mum and Dad, and when all of our family came down from the country they’d all visit.”

Not only did O’Brien’s mates love the home’s convenient location, but it turns out it would prove handy on many a night out at the Grand.

“People would turn up at the pub and inevitably be turned away because they didn’t meet the dress code, so because we were so close to the pub, people would, over many years, come to the house to borrow shoes and clothes from our family to get into the Grand,” O’Brien said.

The kitchen, as it was when O’Brien lived there. Supplied

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A light-filled living space for family entertaining. Supplied

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“One night we didn’t have enough shoes to get everyone into the pub so we took the sprigs out of a pair of my running shoes and one guy wore them; Dad got a pair of pliers and took the spikes out of a pair of golf shoes so another mate could wear them in, and someone cut the sprigs off of an old pair of moulded footy boots with a hacksaw so that he could get into the pub.

“They’d always bring them back and leave them on the veranda.

“It became known as the place where you go if you needed clothes to get into the Grand.

“Even when I wasn’t even there, Mum and Dad would lend out my clothes.”

Not simply popular with young revellers, it also attracted the attention of the local constabulary on one occasion.

“For a period of time there Dad made home brew and he got it wrong with one particular batch and the caps exploded off the bottles inside a tin shed,” O’Brien recalls.

“A bit later a police officer came to the door saying he’d had reports of shots fired in the backyard.”

A lot of the home’s period charm has been retained. Supplied

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The classic Australian bathroom – wallpaper and all. Supplied

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With his life based interstate and overseas, save for the dozen or more visits he makes back to SA each year for work – he’s currently deferred an honours degree and PhD in motion capture and AI through Flinders due to filming commitments – O’Brien says the time has come to sell.

Presented in largely original condition, the four-bedroom, two-bathroom home sits on a 418sqm allotment is going to auction without a price guide on Sunday, October 27, through Century 21’s Paul Dale.

O’Brien said it will be tough to say goodbye to a home that contained so many wonderful memories.

“I might be the highest bidder,” he joked.

The sunroom – which used to be O’Brien’s bedroom. Supplied

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And the backyard – which once received a visit from the local cops. Supplied

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It’s always hard getting rid of a family home and I’m constantly having conversations with Mum and Dad in my head saying: ‘Sorry!’

“It would be great if someone wanted to live in it and fix it up because it is a great spot, but I understand that it’s going to attract interest from developers as well because you can build three storeys there.

“It will absolutely be a wrench to sell it and I’m not sure how that’s going to go for me at the moment.”