"[4] A native of South Oakland, Pennsylvania,[4] O'Malley was the youngest of four children born to Catheryn Holleran and veteran firefighter Bartley J.
[5][2][1][6][7] The second youngest, brother Bart Jr., would meet his untimely end in 1959 at age 35, while following in the career footsteps of their father.
[8][1] It was while working as a Navy radarman in Key West that O'Malley got his first role in a community theater production of The Rainmaker in the late 1950s.
[9] By the 1970s, O'Malley was working with a community theater in Churchill, Pennsylvania as well as the Pittsburgh Lab Theatre.
[9] On film, O'Malley appeared in fellow Pittsburgher George A. Romero's Knightriders[10] as well as Creepshow[10] and Two Evil Eyes.