Arthur Joseph O'Connell (March 29, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an American stage, film and television actor, who achieved prominence in
character roles
A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric character (arts), characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, ". ...
in the 1950s. He was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role while worki ...
for both ''
Picnic'' (1955) and ''
Anatomy of a Murder'' (1959).
Early life
Arthur O'Connell was born to Julia (née Byrne) & Michael O'Connell on March 29, 1908, in Manhattan, New York. His father died when O'Connell was two; he lost his mother when he was 12. He was the youngest of four children. His siblings were William, Kathleen, and Juliette. William, the eldest, became a justice of the
New York State Supreme Court and died in 1972.
After his father's death, Arthur was sent to live in Flushing, New York with his mother's sister, Mrs. Charles Koetzner, while his sisters moved in with other relatives and William remained with his mother. Arthur attended
St John's College for two years. His early jobs included working in the engineering department of
New York Edison, as a salesman at
R.H. Macy and as a
door-to-door salesman
Door-to-door is a canvassing technique that is generally used for sales, marketing, advertising, evangelism or campaigning, in which the person or persons walk from the door of one house to the door of another, trying to sell or advertise a ...
of magazines.
Career
Early roles
O'Connell went into acting in 1929, landing a role in summer stock at the Frankin Stock Company in
Dorchester, Massachusetts, playing a role in ''The Patsy''.
In 1934 his career was interrupted by a bout of
encephalitis, which required a seven-month stay at the
Flower Hospital
ProMedica Flower Hospital is 311-bed Non-profit hospital, non-profit hospital in Sylvania, Ohio operated by ProMedica as a division of ProMedica Toledo Hospital.
The hospital is home to the Hickman Cancer Center, an emergency department, primar ...
in New York City. He recovered in a
sanitarium for the
indigent, and for a time was on
home relief living in a cheap room, subsisting on "milk, raw eggs and bananas."
He made his legitimate stage debut in the middle 1930s, appearing in various roles in theater and vaudeville in the U.S, and in London.
O'Connell's had small film roles early in his career. His film debut was as a student in
Freshman Year (1938) and he appeared in a small role as a reporter in ''
Citizen Kane
''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American drama film produced by, directed by, and starring Orson Welles. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz. The picture was Welles' first feature film. ''Citizen Kane'' is frequently cited ...
'' (1941).
He costarred in two
Leon Errol short subjects as Errol's conniving brother-in-law.
He entered the army in 1945 and served in the
Signal Corps. After his discharge he was spotted in
little theatre Little Theatre or Little Theater may refer to:
Australia
* Little Theatre, Adelaide, South Australia
* Little Theatre, Sydney, former name of the Royal Standard Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales
* Melbourne Little Theatre, an amateur theatre compan ...
by
Charles Laughton and joined a travelling Shakesperean company. His film roles remained insubstantial, playing a detective in ''
The Naked City'' (1948) and a reporter the 1948 film
''State of the Union''.
''Picnic'' and success
His career breakthrough came on
Broadway, where he originated the role of Howard Bevan, the middle-aged swain of a spinsterish schoolteacher in ''
Picnic.'' He recreated the Bevan role in the
1955 film version, opposite
Rosalind Russell as the schoolteacher, earning an Oscar nomination.
As a result of his critically praised performance in the stage and film roles, he was heavily in demand,
resulting in "six good roles in rapid succession." O'Connell made more money in one year after ''Picnic'' than in the preceding 25 years.
After ''Picnic'', he appeared in another
Joshua Logan
Joshua Lockwood Logan III (October 5, 1908 – July 12, 1988) was an American director, writer, and actor. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for co-writing the musical ''South Pacific'' and was involved in writing other musicals.
Early years
Logan w ...
film,
''Bus Stop'', in 1956, as the commonsensical friend of the lead, played by
Don Murray. In that same year he appeared in ''
Solid Gold Cadillac
Solid Gold Cadillac was a British Jazz fusion, jazz-rock group set up in the early 1970s.
The band featured, variously, Roy Babbington (bass), Mike Westbrook (electric piano), Fiachra Trench, Fi Trench (piano, organ), Chris Spedding (guitar), Br ...
,'' playing a kindly office manager in love with
Judy Holliday. His performance as
James Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality ...
's alcoholic mentor in ''
Anatomy of a Murder'' (1959) resulted in a second Oscar nomination.
He also frequently appeared as a
paterfamilias in movies starring teen idols such as
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...
, Pat Boone and Fabian. He frequently played alcoholics, and consulted members of Alcoholics Anonymous in preparation for one of his roles.
In 1959, O'Connell played the part of Chief Petty Officer Sam Tostin, engine room chief of the fictional World War II submarine USS ''Sea Tiger'', opposite
Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one of ...
and
Tony Curtis in ''
Operation Petticoat''. In 1961, O'Connell played the role of Grandpa Clarence Beebe in the children's film ''
Misty'', the screen adaptation of
Marguerite Henry's story ''
Misty of Chincoteague
''Misty of Chincoteague'' is a children's novel written by Marguerite Henry, illustrated by Wesley Dennis, and published by Rand McNally in 1947. Set in the island town of Chincoteague, Virginia, the book was inspired by the real-life story of t ...
''. In 1962, he portrayed the father of
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...
's character in the motion picture ''
Follow That Dream'', and in 1964 in the Presley-picture ''
Kissin' Cousins.'' In the same year, O'Connell portrayed the idealist-turned-antagonist Clint Stark in ''
The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao'', which has become a cult classic, and in which O'Connell's is the only character other than star
Tony Randall
Anthony Leonard Randall (born Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg; February 26, 1920 – May 17, 2004) was an American actor. He is best known for portraying the role of Felix Unger in a television adaptation of the 1965 play '' The Odd Couple'' by Neil Si ...
to appear as one of the "7 faces." O'Connell continued appearing in choice character parts on both television and films during the 1960s, but avoided a regular television series, holding out until he could be assured top billing.
On Christmas Day, 1962, O'Connell was cast as Clayton Dodd in the episode "Green, Green Hills" of the western series ''
Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'', starring
Richard Egan as the rancher Jim Redigo. This episode features
Dayton Lummis as Jason Simms and
Joanna Moore
Joanna Moore (born Dorothy Joanne Cook, November 10, 1934 – November 22, 1997) was an American film and television actress, who, between 1956 and 1976, appeared in 17 feature films and guest-starred in nearly a hundred television series episod ...
as Althea Dodd. In 1966, he guest-starred as a scientist who regretfully realized that he has created an all-powerful android in an episode of the ''
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'', titled "The Mechanical Man." In the February 1967 episode "Never Look Back" of the TV series ''
Lassie'', he played Luther Jennings, an elderly ranger who monitors the survey tower at Strawberry Peak and who takes it hard when he finds he'll lose his job when the tower is slated for destruction.
In 1967, O'Connell co-starred with
Monte Markham in
''The Second Hundred Years'', playing the aging son of a gold miner who was frozen for a hundred years in Alaska. The series lasted for one season.
He worked in commercials, playing a friendly pharmacist as a spokesperson for
Crest.
[ He made his final film appearance in '' The Hiding Place'' (1975), portraying a Dutch watch-maker who hides Jews during World War II. ]Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As ...
forced his retirement in the mid-1970s.
Personal life
In the late 1950s, O'Connell jointly owned a race horse, April Love, with the singer Pat Boone
Patrick Charles Eugene Boone (born June 1, 1934) is an American singer and actor. He was a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He sold more than 45 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and appeared in mo ...
.
In 1962, O'Connell married Ann Hall Dunlop (née Ann Byrd Hall; 1917–2000) of Washington, D.C., widow of William Laird Dunlop III (1909–1960). They met at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy
The inauguration of John F. Kennedy as the 35th president of the United States was held on Friday, January 20, 1961, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. It was the 44th inauguration, marking the commencement of ...
, and divorced in December 1972 in Los Angeles.
On May 18, 1981, O'Connell died of Alzheimer's disease at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
. He was interred at Calvary Cemetery, Queens
Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery in Maspeth and Woodside, Queens, in New York City, New York, United States. With about three million burials, it has the largest number of interments of any cemetery in the United States. Established ...
, New York.
Filmography
References
External links
Arthur O'Connell Papers, Loyola Marymount University
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnell, Arthur
1908 births
1981 deaths
American male stage actors
American male film actors
American male television actors
Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Queens)
Deaths from dementia in California
Deaths from Alzheimer's disease
Male actors from New York City
Male actors from Los Angeles
20th-century American male actors