Arthur O'Connell

Also Known As: not available

Biography: Arthur O'Connell (March 29, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an American stage and film actor. He appeared in films (starting with a small role in Citizen Kane) in 1941 and television programs (mostly guest appearances). Among his screen appearances were Picnic, Anatomy of a Murder, and as the watch-maker who hides Jews during WWII in The Hiding Place. A veteran vaudevillian, O'Connell, from New York City, made his legitimate stage debut in the mid 1930s, at which time he fell within the orbit of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre. Welles cast O'Connell in the tiny role of a reporter in the closing scenes of Citizen Kane (1941), a film often referred to as O'Connell's film debut, though in fact he had already appeared in Freshman Year (1939) and had costarred in two Leon Errol short subjects as Leon's conniving brother-in-law. After numerous small movie parts, O'Connell returned to Broadway, where he appeared as the erstwhile middle-aged swain of a spinsterish schoolteacher in Picnic - a role he'd recreate in the 1956 film version, earning an Oscar nomination in the process. Later the jaded looking O'Connell was frequently cast as fortyish losers and alcoholics; in the latter capacity he appeared as James Stewart's boozy attorney mentor in Anatomy of a Murder (1959), and the result was another Oscar nomination. In 1962 O'Connell portrayed the father of Elvis Presley's character in the motion picture Follow That Dream, and in 1964 in the Presley-picture Kissin' Cousins. O'Connell continued appearing in choice character parts on both TV and films during the 1960s, but avoided a regular television series, holding out until he could be assured top billing. He appeared as Joseph Baylor in the 1964 episode "A Little Anger Is a Good Thing" on the ABC medical drama about psychiatry, Breaking Point. The actor accepted the part of a man who discovers that his 99-year-old father has been frozen in an iceberg on the 1967 sitcom The Second Hundred Years, assuming he'd be billed first per the producers' agreement. Instead, top billing went to newcomer Monte Markham in the dual role of O'Connell's father and his son. O'Connell accepted the demotion to second billing as well as could be expected, but he never again trusted the word of any Hollywood executive. Ill health forced O'Connell to significantly reduce his acting appearances in the mid '70s, but the actor stayed busy as a commercial spokesman, a friendly pharmacist who was a spokesperson for Crest toothpaste. At the time of his death from Alzheimer's disease in California in May 1981, O'Connell was appearing solely in these commercials, by his own choice. O'Connell was buried in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York. Description above from the Wikipedia article Arthur O'Connell, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.    

Department: Acting

Place of Birth: New York City, New York, USA

Adult: No

Birthday: March 29, 1908

Age: 117 years old

Gender: Male

Deathday: May 18, 1981

Popularity:

2.58%

Known For:

Anatomy of a Murder
Pocketful of Miracles
Fantastic Voyage
Blondie's Blessed Event
The Great Race
The Silencers
Bus Stop
Misty
There Was a Crooked Man...
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
7 Faces of Dr. Lao
Ben
The Last Valley
Man of the West
The Reluctant Astronaut
Kissin' Cousins
Gidget
The Hiding Place
They Only Kill Their Masters
The Great Impostor
The Power
Cimarron
Picnic
Follow That Dream
Open Secret
Huckleberry Finn
Dr. Kildare Goes Home
Your Cheatin' Heart
The Solid Gold Cadillac
Wicked, Wicked
A Thunder of Drums
Ride Beyond Vengeance
The Countess of Monte Cristo
The Proud Ones
Nightmare in the Sun
The Third Day
The Monte Carlo Story
Murder in Soho
A Taste of Evil
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
A Covenant with Death
Man From Headquarters
If He Hollers, Let Him Go!
The Monkey's Uncle
Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?
Voice in the Mirror
Seven in Darkness
The Naked City
April Love
The Poseidon Adventure
Law of the Jungle
Operation Petticoat
Homecoming
Force of Evil
Two Girls on Broadway
I Take This Oath
Hound-Dog Man
One Touch of Venus
Canal Zone
Hullabaloo
The Golden Fleecing
And One Was Beautiful
State of the Union
Citizen Kane
Hello, Annapolis
The Violators
Birds Do It
'Taint Legal
Shootout in a One-Dog Town
The Whistle at Eaton Falls
Marilyn
Bested by a Beard
Fingers at the Window
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
Operation Mad Ball
He Asked for It