Brother of Oscar nominated actor Dan O'Herlihy, Michael O'Herlihy was a major TV director in the US from the 1950s to the 1980s. His credits include Uzay Yolu (1966), Maverick (1957), Gunsmoke (1955), M*A*S*H (1972), Hawaii Five-O (1968), A Takımı (1983) and Kanun Namına (1984) to name but a few.

He worked for Disney in the late 1960s and his feature film debut was for them in 1966 with The Fighting Prince of Donegal (1966), a family classic.

Nominated for an Emmy in 1979 for his NBC miniseries Backstairs at the White House (1979), O'Herlihy, like his brother, never received the accolades in his home country that he did in the US.