William Obanhein

Who was William Obanhein?

William J. Obanhein, sometimes better known as Officer Obie, was the chief of police for the town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He was a member of the police force there for 34 years, allegedly being forced into retirement in 1985 for hitting another officer during the course of an argument. He is fairly well known for his appearances in popular culture.

Obanhein was the "Officer Obie" mentioned in Arlo Guthrie's 1967 talking blues song "Alice's Restaurant." He played himself in the 1969 movie of the same name, telling Newsweek magazine that making himself look like a fool was preferable to having somebody else make him look like a fool.

Obanhein posed for Norman Rockwell for a handful of sketches, including the 1959 black-and-white sketch "Policeman With Boys," which was used in nationwide advertisements for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. He is sometimes mistaken for the officer who posed for Rockwell's more widely known painting "The Runaway", which appeared on a 1958 cover of The Saturday Evening Post; this was not Obanhein but Massachusetts state trooper Richard Clemens.