Alzheimer’s Documentary by Two Former Rye Residents Earns Award

In June of 2024, Greg O’Brien claimed the Los Angeles Press Club Television Emmy Award for the movie he starred in, Have You Heard About Greg?, which looks at Alzheimer’s disease through the eyes of Greg, a patient of said disease. Friend and ex-Rye resident Steve Ecclesine was producer of the documentary-style film, which beat out 2300 other competitors to win the award.

O’Brien and Ecclesine recently participated in a virtual interview with Being Patient, an independent news outlet aimed at informing people on complex health issues, to discuss the filmmaking process and learn more about both the subject and producer of the award-winning film.

“One of Greg’s and my childhood pals came up to me and said, “Have you heard about Greg? And those five words, they changed my life,” Ecclesine said when asked about his inspiration for the film. “This is magic. This is information that people need to get their hands on.”

“It’s been an unbelievable production to be a part of,” Ecclesine told MyRye.com earlier this week.

The documentary goes hand-in-hand with O’Brien’s first public journalism on Alzheimer’s, a book he wrote in 2014 called On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer’s. That publication won several awards and earned nominations for many others. The book’s success motivated Ecclesine to pursue this project as its producer, and O’Brien to continue to open up about his brave fight.

“I, as a journalist, said… ‘We’re going to bring this disease out of the closet,'” O’Brien told Being Patient. O’Brien’s mother passed away due to Alzheimer’s disease, and he claims that that moment “propelled me to do my job, and I promised my mom that I would do that.”

Have You Heard About Greg? was released in 2021 on PBS. The channel has aired the documentary more than 200 times.

Greg O’Brien lived at 25 Brookdale Place in Rye growing up and attended elementary school at Resurrection Grammar School with Ecclesine before opting to attend Archbishop Stepinac High School for grades 9-12. He graduated from there in the class of 1968. Steve Ecclesine graduated from Rye High School that same year and has produced several successful films after earning a BA from Emerson College in Mass Communication.

Find the full Being Patient interview embedded below. Some viewer discretion is advised, as O’Brien is very honest about the struggles he faces in his ongoing battle. You can also watch the documentary’s trailer, also below.