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John Carroll O'Connor (August 2, 1924 – June 21, 2001) was an American actor, producer, and director whose television career spanned over four decades. He became a lifelong member of the Actors Studio in 1971. O'Connor found widespread fame as
Archie Bunker Archie is a masculine given name, a diminutive of Archibald. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Archie Alexander (1888–1958), African-American mathematician, engineer and governor of the US Virgin Islands * Archie Blake (mathemati ...
(for which he won four Emmy Awards), the main character in the
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
television sitcoms ''
All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS for nine seasons, from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. Afterwards, it was continued with the spin-off series ''Archie Bunker's Place'', which picked up where ''All in ...
'' (1971–79) and its continuation, '' Archie Bunker's Place'' (1979–83). O'Connor later starred in the
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
/CBS television
crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...
'' In the Heat of the Night'' (1988–95), where he played the role of police chief William "Bill" Gillespie. At the end of his career in the late 1990s, he played Gus Stemple, the father of Jamie Buchman ( Helen Hunt) on ''
Mad About You ''Mad About You'' is an American television sitcom starring Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a married couple in New York City. It initially aired on NBC from September 23, 1992, to May 24, 1999, winning numerous awards including four Golden Glob ...
''. In 1996, O'Connor was ranked number 38 on ''TV Guide''s 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time. He won 5 Emmys and two Golden Globe Awards.


Early life

Carroll O'Connor, the eldest of three sons, was born on August 2, 1924, in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, New York City, to Edward Joseph O'Connor, a lawyer, and his wife, Elise Patricia O'Connor (née O'Connor), a teacher. Both of his brothers became doctors: Hugh, who died in a motorcycle accident in 1961, and Robert, a psychiatrist in New York City. O'Connor spent much of his youth in Elmhurst and Forest Hills,
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
, the same borough in which his character Archie Bunker would later live. O'Connor graduated from Newtown High School in Elmhurst. In 1941, he enrolled at
Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...
in
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
but dropped out when the United States entered
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. During the war, he was rejected by the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
and enrolled in the
United States Merchant Marine Academy The United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA or Kings Point) is a United States service academy in Kings Point, New York. It trains its midshipmen (as students at the academy are called) to serve as officers in the United States Merchant ...
for a short time. After leaving that institution, he became a merchant seaman and served in the
United States Merchant Marine United States Merchant Marines are United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, an ...
during the war. After the war, O'Connor attended the
University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fa ...
, where he worked at the ''
Montana Kaimin The ''Montana Kaimin'' is the University of Montana's student-run independent newspaper located in Missoula, Montana. The paper is printed once a week, Thursday, with special editions printed occasionally. The current editor-in-chief is Griffen ...
'' student newspaper as an editor; in 1949 he resigned his editing position in protest to the pressure from the campus administration that led to the confiscation and destruction of an issue of the paper, which carried a cartoon depicting the Montana Board of Education as rats gnawing at a bag of university funds. At the University of Montana, he also joined the
Sigma Phi Epsilon Sigma Phi Epsilon (), commonly known as SigEp, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College (now the University of Richmond), and its national headquarte ...
fraternity. O'Connor did not take any drama courses as an undergraduate at the University of Montana, but he did act in student theater productions. He met Nancy Fields (born 1929), who later became his wife, when she was working as a makeup artist and lighting technician in a student-produced production of "
Our Town ''Our Town'' is a 1938 metatheatrical three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play tells the story of the fictional American small town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 thro ...
." He later left that university to help his younger brother Hugh get into medical school in Ireland, where Carroll completed his undergraduate studies at
University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...
. There he studied Irish history and English literature, graduated in 1952, and began his acting career. After O'Connor's fiancée, Nancy Fields, graduated from the University of Montana in 1951 with degrees in drama and English, she sailed to Ireland to study at
Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...
and met Carroll, who was visiting his brother, Hugh. The couple married in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
on July 28, 1951. In 1956, O'Connor returned to the University of Montana to earn a master's degree in speech.


Prolific character actor

After acting in theatrical productions in Dublin and New York during the 1950s, O'Connor's breakthrough came when he was cast by director
Burgess Meredith Oliver Burgess Meredith (November 16, 1907 – September 9, 1997) was an American actor and filmmaker whose career encompassed theater, film, and television. Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" and "on ...
(assisted by
John Astin John Allen Astin (born March 30, 1930) is an American actor and director who has appeared in numerous stage, television and film roles. He is best known for starring in '' The Addams Family'' (1964–1966), as patriarch Gomez Addams, reprising ...
) in a featured role in the Broadway adaptation of
James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
's novel '' Ulysses''. O'Connor and Meredith remained close, lifelong friends. O'Connor made his television acting debut as a character actor on two episodes of ''Sunday Showcase''. These two parts led to other roles on such television series as ''
The Americans ''The Americans'' is an American period spy drama television series created by Joe Weisberg that aired on the FX television network for six seasons from January 30, 2013, to May 30, 2018. Weisberg and Joel Fields also serve as showrunners a ...
'', '' The Eleventh Hour'', '' Bonanza'', '' The Fugitive'', '' The Wild Wild West'', ''
Armstrong Circle Theatre ''Armstrong Circle Theatre'' is an American anthology drama television series which ran from June 6, 1950, to June 25, 1957, on NBC, and from October 2, 1957, to August 28, 1963, on CBS. It alternated weekly with '' The U.S. Steel Hour''. It fi ...
'', '' The Outer Limits'', '' The Great Adventure'', ''
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a secret ...
'', ''
Dr. Kildare Dr. James Kildare is a fictional American medical doctor, originally created in the 1930s by the author Frederick Schiller Faust under the pen name Max Brand. Shortly after the character's first appearance in a magazine story, Paramount Pictur ...
'', ''
I Spy I spy is a guessing game where one player (the ''spy'' or ''it'') chooses an object within sight and announces to the other players that "I spy with my little eye something beginning with...", naming the first letter of the object. Other players a ...
'', ''
That Girl ''That Girl'' is an American sitcom that ran on ABC from September 8, 1966 to March 19, 1971. It starred Marlo Thomas as the title character Ann Marie, an aspiring (but only sporadically employed) actress, who moves from her hometown of Brewste ...
'', ''Premiere'', ''
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea ''Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'' is a 1961 American science fiction disaster film, produced and directed by Irwin Allen, and starring Walter Pidgeon and Robert Sterling. The supporting cast includes Peter Lorre, Joan Fontaine, Barbara Eden, M ...
'' and ''
Insight Insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings: *a piece of information *the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of seeing intui ...
'', among many others. O'Connor starred as an Eastern European villain in the first season of '' Mission Impossible'', season one, episode 18 "The Trial". Late in his career, he appeared on several episodes of ''Mad About You'' as the father of Helen Hunt's character.


Considered roles

He was among the actors considered for the roles of the Skipper on '' Gilligan's Island'' and Dr. Smith in the TV show ''
Lost in Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series, created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. The series was inspired by the 1812 novel ''The Swiss Family Robinson.'' The series fo ...
'', and he was the visual template in the creation of Batman nemesis Rupert Thorne, a character who debuted at the height of ''All in the Family'' success in '' Detective Comics'' No. 469 (published May 1976 by
DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
).


Early film roles

O'Connor appeared in a number of studio films in the 1960s and early 1970s, including ''
Lonely Are the Brave ''Lonely Are the Brave'' is a 1962 American black and white Western film adaptation of the Edward Abbey novel '' The Brave Cowboy'' directed by David Miller from a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo and starring Kirk Douglas, Gena Rowlands and Walt ...
'' (1962), '' Cleopatra'' (1963), ''
In Harm's Way ''In Harm's Way'' is a 1965 American epic war film produced and directed by Otto Preminger and starring John Wayne, Kirk Douglas and Patricia Neal, with a supporting cast featuring Henry Fonda in a lengthy cameo, Tom Tryon, Paula Prentiss, Stanle ...
'' (1965), '' What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?'' (1966), ''
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
'' (1966), '' Not with My Wife, You Don't!'' (1966), ''
Warning Shot In military and police contexts, a warning shot is an intentionally harmless artillery shot or gunshot with intent to enact direct compliance and order to a hostile perpetrator or enemy forces. It is recognized as signalling intended confronta ...
'' (1967), ''
Point Blank Point-blank range is any distance over which a certain firearm can hit a target without the need to compensate for bullet drop, and can be adjusted over a wide range of distances by sighting in the firearm. If the bullet leaves the barrel paral ...
'' (1967), '' The Devil's Brigade'' (1968), ''
For Love of Ivy ''For Love of Ivy'' is a 1968 romantic comedy film directed by Daniel Mann. The film stars Sidney Poitier, Abbey Lincoln, Beau Bridges, Nan Martin, Lauri Peters, and Carroll O'Connor. The story was written by Poitier with screenwriter Robert Alan ...
'' (1968), ''
Death of a Gunfighter ''Death of a Gunfighter'' is a 1969 American Western film directed by Allen Smithee and starring Richard Widmark and Lena Horne. and features an original score by Oliver Nelson. The theme of the film is the "passing" of the West, the clash betw ...
'' (1969), ''
Marlowe Marlowe may refer to: Name * Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593), English dramatist, poet and translator * Philip Marlowe, fictional hardboiled detective created by author Raymond Chandler * Marlowe (name), including list of people and characters w ...
'' (1969), ''
Kelly's Heroes ''Kelly's Heroes'' is a 1970 World War II comedy-drama heist film, directed by Brian G. Hutton, about a motley crew of American GIs who go AWOL in order to rob a French bank, located behind German lines, of its stored Nazi gold bars. The film ...
'' (1970) and '' Doctors' Wives'' (1971). In many of his roles he portrayed a military or police officer, in several a particularly blustery one.


Television roles

In the 1960s, O'Connor appeared in episodes of notable television series such as ''
The Americans ''The Americans'' is an American period spy drama television series created by Joe Weisberg that aired on the FX television network for six seasons from January 30, 2013, to May 30, 2018. Weisberg and Joel Fields also serve as showrunners a ...
'', ''
The Untouchables Untouchables or The Untouchables may refer to: American history * Untouchables (law enforcement), a 1930s American law enforcement unit led by Eliot Ness * ''The Untouchables'' (book), an autobiography by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley * ''The U ...
'', '' Naked City'', ''
Death Valley Days ''Death Valley Days'' is an American old-time radio and television anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program ...
'', '' Bonanza'', '' The Defenders'', '' The Outer Limits'', '' The Fugitive'', ''
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a secret ...
'', ''
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea ''Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'' is a 1961 American science fiction disaster film, produced and directed by Irwin Allen, and starring Walter Pidgeon and Robert Sterling. The supporting cast includes Peter Lorre, Joan Fontaine, Barbara Eden, M ...
'', ''
Ben Casey ''Ben Casey'' is an American medical drama series that aired on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, ✳, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaff ...
'', ''
Dr. Kildare Dr. James Kildare is a fictional American medical doctor, originally created in the 1930s by the author Frederick Schiller Faust under the pen name Max Brand. Shortly after the character's first appearance in a magazine story, Paramount Pictur ...
'', ''
I Spy I spy is a guessing game where one player (the ''spy'' or ''it'') chooses an object within sight and announces to the other players that "I spy with my little eye something beginning with...", naming the first letter of the object. Other players a ...
'', '' The Wild Wild West'', '' Mission: Impossible'', ''
The Time Tunnel ''The Time Tunnel'' is an American color science fiction TV series written around a theme of time travel adventure starring James Darren and Robert Colbert. The show was creator-producer Irwin Allen's third science-fiction television series and ...
'', ''
That Girl ''That Girl'' is an American sitcom that ran on ABC from September 8, 1966 to March 19, 1971. It starred Marlo Thomas as the title character Ann Marie, an aspiring (but only sporadically employed) actress, who moves from her hometown of Brewste ...
'' and '' Gunsmoke'' (1966 - "The Wrong Man"; S12E7). O'Connor also performed in anthology television shows such as ''
NBC Sunday Showcase ''NBC Sunday Showcase'' was a series of hour-long specials telecast in color on NBC during the 1959-60 season. The flexible anthology format varied weekly from comedies and science fiction to musicals and historical dramas. The recent introducti ...
'', ''
The United States Steel Hour ''The United States Steel Hour'' is an anthology series which brought hour long dramas to television from 1953 to 1963. The television series and the radio program that preceded it were both sponsored by the United States Steel Corporation (U. S ...
'', ''
Armstrong Circle Theatre ''Armstrong Circle Theatre'' is an American anthology drama television series which ran from June 6, 1950, to June 25, 1957, on NBC, and from October 2, 1957, to August 28, 1963, on CBS. It alternated weekly with '' The U.S. Steel Hour''. It fi ...
'', ''
The Play of the Week ''The Play of the Week'' is an American anthology series of televised stage plays which aired in NTA Film Network syndication from October 12, 1959 to May 1, 1961. Ambitious undertaking The series presented 67 (35 in the first season, 32 in th ...
'', ''
The Dick Powell Show ''The Dick Powell Show'' is an American television anthology series that ran on NBC from September 26, 1961, until September 17, 1963, primarily sponsored by the Reynolds Metals Company. Overview The series was an anthology of various dramas ...
'', ''
Alcoa Premiere ''Alcoa Premiere'' (also known as ''Premiere, Presented by Fred Astaire'') is an American anthology drama series that aired from October 1961 to July 1963 on ABC. The series was hosted by Fred Astaire, who also starred in several of the episodes ...
'', '' The DuPont Show of the Week'', ''
Profiles in Courage ''Profiles in Courage'' is a 1956 volume of short biographies describing acts of bravery and integrity by eight United States Senators. The book profiles senators who defied the opinions of their party and constituents to do what they felt was ...
'' and ''
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre ''Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre'' is an American anthology series, sponsored by Chrysler Corporation, which ran on NBC from 1963 through 1967. The show was hosted by Bob Hope, but it had a variety of formats, including musical, dramatic ...
.''


''All in the Family''

O'Connor was living in
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
in 1968 when producer Norman Lear asked him to come to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
and star in a series that he was creating for ABC titled '' Justice For All.'' Lear recruited O'Connor to play the role of Archie Justice, a bigot who was able to bring forth some measure of empathy from the audience. After two
television pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distr ...
s of the sitcom were produced (between 1968 and 1970), the hosting network was changed to CBS. For the third pilot, the last name of its main character was changed to Bunker, and its title was changed to ''
All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS for nine seasons, from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. Afterwards, it was continued with the spin-off series ''Archie Bunker's Place'', which picked up where ''All in ...
''. The show was based on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's ''
Till Death Us Do Part ''Till Death Us Do Part'' is a British television sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1965 to 1975. The show was first broadcast in 1965 as a ''Comedy Playhouse'' pilot, then as seven series between 1966 and 1975. In 1981, ITV continued the sitcom ...
'', and Bunker was based on
Alf Garnett Alfred Edward "Alf" Garnett is a fictional character from the British sitcom '' Till Death Us Do Part'' and its follow-on and spin-off series '' Till Death...'' and ''In Sickness and in Health''. He also appeared in the chat show ''The Thoughts ...
, but he was somewhat less abrasive than the original British character. O'Connor's Queens background and his ability to speak with a working-class New York accent both influenced Lear to set the show in Queens. Desiring a well known actor to play the lead, Lear approached Mickey Rooney, but he declined the role. O'Connor accepted the role because he did not expect the show to succeed, and he believed that he would move back to
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
when it failed. In her book ''Archie & Edith, Mike & Gloria: the Tumultuous History of All in the Family'', Donna McCrohan revealed that O'Connor had requested that Lear provide him with a return airplane ticket to
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
as a condition of his acceptance of the role so that he could return to Italy when the show failed. Instead, ''All in the Family'' became the highest-rated show on American television for five consecutive seasons. While O'Connor's personal politics were liberal, he understood the Bunker character and played him not only with bombast and humor but with touches of vulnerability. The show's writing was consistently left of center, but O'Connor, while his character held right-wing views, could also deftly skewer the liberal pieties of the day. Bunker was famous for his English language
malapropism A malapropism (also called a malaprop, acyrologia, or Dogberryism) is the mistaken use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical, sometimes humorous utterance. An example is the statement attributed to ...
s, but O'Connor was in truth a highly educated and cultured man and taught English before he turned to acting. Archie Bunker's long-suffering wife
Edith Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and var ...
was played by
Jean Stapleton Jean Stapleton (born Jeanne Murray; January 19, 1923 – May 31, 2013) was an American character actress of stage, television and film. Stapleton was best known for playing Edith Bunker, the perpetually optimistic and devoted wife of Arc ...
, also from New York City, a
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
actress whom Lear remembered from the play and film ''
Damn Yankees ''Damn Yankees'' is a 1955 musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., dur ...
''. The show also starred unknown character actors
Rob Reiner Robert Norman Reiner (born March 6, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence with the role of Michael "Meathead" Stivic on the CBS sitcom ''All in the Family'' (1971–1979), a performan ...
as Archie's liberal son-in-law Michael "Meathead" Stivic and
Sally Struthers Sally Anne Struthers (born July 28, 1947) is an American actress and activist. She played Gloria Stivic, the daughter of Archie and Edith Bunker (played by Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton) on ''All in the Family'', for which she won two Emm ...
as Gloria, Archie and Edith's only child and Mike's wife. CBS debated whether the controversial subject matter of ''All in the Family'' would mesh with a sitcom.
Racial A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...
issues, ethnicities, religions, class, education, women's equality, gun control, politics, inflation, the Vietnam War, energy crisis, Watergate and other timely topics of the 1970s were addressed. Like its British predecessor ''Till Death Us Do Part'', the show lent dramatic social substance to the traditional sitcom format. Archie Bunker's popularity made O'Connor a top-billing star of the 1970s. O'Connor was apprehensive of being
typecast In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...
for playing the role, but at the same time he was protective, not just of his character, but of the entire show. A contract dispute between O'Connor and Lear marred the beginning of the show's fifth season. Eventually O'Connor received a raise and appeared in the series until it ended. For his work as Archie Bunker, he was nominated for eight Emmy Awards as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series; he won the award four times (1972, 1977, 1978 and 1979). At the end of the eighth season in 1978, Reiner and Struthers left the series to pursue other projects. Rob Reiner said in a 2014 interview about his on- and off-screen chemistry with O'Connor: "We did over 200 shows in front of a live audience. So I learned a lot about what audiences like, what they don't like, how stories are structured. I would spend a lot of time in the writing room and I actually wrote some scripts. And from Carroll O'Connor I learned a lot about how you perform and how important the script and story are for the actors. So the actor doesn't have to push things. You can let the story and the dialogue support you if it's good. I had great people around me, and I took from all the people who were around." Comparing O'Connor's character to Archie Bunker, Reiner said: "Carroll O'Connor brought his humanity to the character even though he had these abhorrent views. He's still a feeling, human being. He loved his wife even though he acted the way he did, and he loved his daughter. Those things come out. I don't think anybody's all good or all bad."


''Archie Bunker's Place''

When ''All in the Family'' ended after nine seasons, ''Archie Bunker's Place'' continued in its place and ran for four additional years. Longtime friend and original series star Jean Stapleton kept her role as Edith Bunker, but she was limited to five guest appearances in Season 1. In the second-season premiere, her character died of a stroke, leaving Archie to cope with the loss. The show was canceled in 1983. O'Connor was angered about the show's cancellation, maintaining that the show ended with an inappropriate finale. He would later work for CBS again when he starred in '' In the Heat of the Night'' on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
and they decided not to renew the series. CBS allowed the series to continue for two more years and have a proper ending.


''In the Heat of the Night''

While coping with his son's drug problem, O'Connor starred as
Sparta, Mississippi Sparta is an unincorporated community in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, United States. History Sparta was once home to two churches and a school. A post office operated under the name Sparta from 1850 to 1905. Company H of the 13th Mississippi In ...
, Police Chief Bill Gillespie, a tough veteran cop on ''In the Heat of the Night''. Based on the novel by John Ball and the 1967 movie of the same name, the series debuted on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
in March 1988 and performed well. He cast his inexperienced son
Hugh O'Connor Hugh Edward Ralph O'Connor (April 7, 1962 – March 28, 1995) was an American actor known for his role as James Flynn in the 1984 film ''Brass'' and his portrayal of Lonnie Jamison on '' In the Heat of the Night'' until his death in 1995. He ...
as Officer Lonnie Jamison. The headquarters of the Sparta Police Department was actually the library in
Covington, Georgia Covington is a city in the U.S. state of Georgia and the seat of Newton County, and is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2010 Census, its population 14,113. History Covington was founded by European immigrants to the United ...
. In 1989, while working on the set, O'Connor was hospitalized and underwent open heart surgery, which caused him to miss four episodes at the end of the second season (Actor
Joe Don Baker Joe Don Baker (born February 12, 1936) is an American character actor and a life member of the Actors Studio. He established himself as an action star with supporting roles as a mysterious cowboy drifter in '' Guns of the Magnificent Seven'' (19 ...
took his place in those episodes as an acting police chief.) O'Connor would later serve as one of the executive producers for the series, starting with the third season. The series was transferred from NBC to CBS in 1992 and cancelled two years later after its seventh season. O'Connor reprised his role the following year for four two-hour ''In the Heat of the Night'' television films. While on the series, O'Connor recorded "Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella" for the 1991 ''In the Heat of the Night'' Christmas CD ''Christmas Time's A Comin. He was joined by Grand Ole Opry star mandolinist
Jesse McReynolds Jesse Lester McReynolds (born July 9, 1929) is an American bluegrass musician. He is best known for his innovative crosspicking and split-string styles of mandolin playing. Biography McReynolds was born in Coeburn, Virginia. He and his brothe ...
, Nashville accordionist Abe Manuel Jr., and Nashville fiddlers Buddy Spicher and
Randall Franks Randall Franks is an American film and television actor, author, and bluegrass singer and musician who plays fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and mountain dulcimer. He was inducted into the Tri-State Gospel Music Hall of Fame (Georgia, Tennessee and Al ...
. CD Producer and series co-star Randall Franks created the arrangement which was co-produced by series co-star
Alan Autry Carlos Alan Autry Jr. (also known for a time as Carlos Brown; born July 31, 1952), is an American actor, politician, and former National Football League player. During his brief football career, he was known as Carlos Brown. He played the ro ...
. He joined other members of the cast for a recording of "Jingle Bells" with vocals by Country Music Hall of Fame members
Little Jimmy Dickens James Cecil Dickens (December 19, 1920 – January 2, 2015), better known by his stage name Little Jimmy Dickens, was an American country music singer and songwriter famous for his humorous novelty songs, his small size (4'11" 50 cm, and h ...
,
Kitty Wells Ellen Muriel Deason (August 30, 1919 – July 16, 2012), known professionally as Kitty Wells, was an American pioneering female country music singer. She broke down a barrier to women in country music with her 1952 hit recording " It Wasn't God ...
,
Pee Wee King Julius Frank Anthony Kuczynski (February 18, 1914 – March 7, 2000), known professionally as Pee Wee King, was an American country music songwriter and recording artist best known for co-writing "Tennessee Waltz". Pee Wee King is credited with ...
,
The Marksmen Quartet The Marksmen Quartet of Murrayville, Georgia originated in 1967 as a Southern gospel quartet under the direction of Dr. Earle Wheeler. Through the years, the group's styles moved to bluegrass gospel and country gospel. Dove award nominees in 2008 ...
, Bobby Wright, Johnnie Wright and Ken Holloway. According to MeTV, Carroll wrote several episodes under the pseudonym Matt Harris.


Career honors

*
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy is a Golden Globe Award presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered an outstanding perform ...
, 1972, ''
All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS for nine seasons, from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. Afterwards, it was continued with the spin-off series ''Archie Bunker's Place'', which picked up where ''All in ...
'' *
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. The award is presented to the best performance by a lead actor in a television comedy series. Beginning with the 18th Primetime Emm ...
, 1971, 1976, 1977, and 1978, ''All in the Family'' * George Foster Peabody Broadcasting Award, 1980, for ''Archie Alone'' episode, ''Archie Bunker's Place'' * Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, 1989, ''In the Heat of the Night'' *
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama is an award presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). This Golden Globe Award honors the best performance by an actor in a drama television series. It ...
, 1989, ''In the Heat of the Night'' *
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama is an award presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). This Golden Globe Award honors the best performance by an actor in a drama television series. It ...
nomination 1990, ''In the Heat of the Night''' *
Television Academy Hall of Fame The Television Academy Hall of Fame honors individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to U.S. television. The hall of fame was founded by former Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) president John H. Mitchell (1921–1988). In ...
, inducted 1990 for contributions to the television industry * NAACP Image Award, 1992, ''In the Heat of the Night'' ''Best Dramatic Series'' * NAACP Image Award, 1993, ''In the Heat of the Night'' ''Best Dramatic Series''


Other honors

In 1973, his fraternity conferred its highest honor, the Sigma Phi Epsilon Citation, on him. O'Connor is the only male actor to have won the lead acting Emmy Award in both the comedy and drama series categories. In July 1991, O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Reiner, and Sally Struthers reunited to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ''All in the Family''. With
rerun A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. There are two types of reruns – those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Variations In the United Kingdom, the word ...
s airing in syndication on
TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cl ...
,
Antenna TV Antenna TV is an American digital television network owned by Nexstar Media Group. The network's programming consists of classic television series, primarily sitcoms, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Antenna TV's programming and advertising operati ...
and CBS, the show's popularity continued. In March 2000, O'Connor received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was given a St. Patrick's Day tribute by
MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
. O'Connor's caricature is displayed at
Sardi's Sardi's is a continental restaurant located at 234 West 44th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, in the Theater District of Manhattan, New York City. Sardi's opened at its current location on March 5, 1927. It is known for the carica ...
restaurant in New York City's
Theater District A theater district (also spelled theatre district) is a common name for a neighborhood containing several of a city's theatres. Places *Theater District, Manhattan, New York City *Boston Theater District *Buffalo Theater District *Cleveland Theater ...
.


Personal life

In 1962, while he was in Rome filming '' Cleopatra'', O'Connor and his wife Nancy Fields O'Connor adopted a six-day-old boy, naming him Hugh after O'Connor's brother who had died a year earlier. At age 17, Hugh worked as a courier on the set of ''Archie Bunker's Place''. O'Connor eventually created the role of Officer Lonnie Jamison on ''In the Heat of the Night'' for his son. O'Connor was a devout
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
who regularly attended
Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
. In 1989, O'Connor was admitted to the hospital for heart
bypass surgery Bypass surgery refers to a class of surgery involving rerouting a tubular body part. Types include: * Vascular bypass surgery such as coronary artery bypass surgery, a heart operation * Cardiopulmonary bypass, a technique used in coronary artery ...
and quit his 30-year smoking habit. On March 28, 1995, O'Connor's son Hugh took his own life after a long battle with
drug addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use oft ...
. Following his son's death, O'Connor appeared in
public service announcements A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...
for the
Partnership for a Drug-Free America Partnership to End Addiction, first known as the Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) then later as the Partnership at DrugFree.org, and The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, is a New York, New York, New York City-based nonprofit, non-profit ...
and spent the rest of his life working to raise awareness about drug addiction. O'Connor also successfully lobbied the state of California to pass legislation allowing family members of an addicted person or anyone injured by a drug dealer's actions, including employers, to sue for reimbursement for medical treatment, rehabilitation costs and other economic and noneconomic damages. The law, known as the Drug Dealer Civil Liability Act, went into effect in 1997. It is also referred to as the Hugh O'Connor Memorial Law. The act is based on the 1992 Model Drug Dealer Liability Act, which has been passed in 17 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Cases have been brought under the act in states such as California, Illinois, and Utah. His son's suicide inspired O'Connor to start a crusade against the man who had sold the drugs to Hugh. He called Harry Perzigian "a partner in murder" and a "sleazeball," and Perzigian countered with a defamation lawsuit against O'Connor. In 1997, a California jury decided in O'Connor's favor. In an interview on
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
's ''
Larry King Live ''Larry King Live'' was an American television talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was the channel's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly. Mainly aired from CNN's Los Angeles ...
'' soon after the verdict, O'Connor said that he would never be able to put his son's death behind him, saying: "I can't forget it. There isn't a day that I don't think of him and want him back and miss him, and I'll feel that way until I'm not here anymore." During the late 1990s, O'Connor established a small automotive restoration shop in Newbury Park, California. Called Carroll O'Connor Classics, the shop contained many of O'Connor's personal vehicles and the cars once owned by his late son. Among the cars O'Connor owned were a
Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow The Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow is a full-sized luxury car produced by British automaker Rolls-Royce in various forms from 1965 to 1980. It was the first of the marque to use unitary body and chassis construction. The Silver Shadow was produced ...
sold to him by William Harrah, a
Maserati 3500 GT The Maserati 3500 GT (''Tipo 101'') and the Maserati 3500 GT Spyder (''Tipo 101/C'') are 2-door coupé and convertible grand tourers made by Italian car manufacturer Maserati between 1957 and 1964. It was a seminal vehicle for Maserati as the comp ...
, and a Dodge Challenger equipped with a 440-cubic inch V-8, which he drove during production of ''All in the Family''. In 1997, the O'Connors donated US$1 million (worth $ today) to their alma mater to help match a challenge grant to the
University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fa ...
from the
National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
. The university named a regional studies and public policy institute the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West. Afterward, O'Connor taught screenwriting at the university. In 1998, O'Connor underwent a second surgery to clear the blockage in a carotid artery in order to reduce his risk of stroke.


Death

O'Connor died at the age of 76 on June 21, 2001, in Culver City, California from a heart attack brought on by complications from
diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...
. His funeral
Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
was celebrated at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Westwood, and was attended by ''All in the Family'' cast members
Rob Reiner Robert Norman Reiner (born March 6, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence with the role of Michael "Meathead" Stivic on the CBS sitcom ''All in the Family'' (1971–1979), a performan ...
,
Sally Struthers Sally Anne Struthers (born July 28, 1947) is an American actress and activist. She played Gloria Stivic, the daughter of Archie and Edith Bunker (played by Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton) on ''All in the Family'', for which she won two Emm ...
, and
Danielle Brisebois Danielle Anne Brisebois (born June 28, 1969) is an American producer, singer-songwriter and former child actress. She is best known for her role as Stephanie Mills on the Norman Lear-produced sitcoms ''All in the Family'' and its spin-off '' ...
, as well as producer Norman Lear.
Jean Stapleton Jean Stapleton (born Jeanne Murray; January 19, 1923 – May 31, 2013) was an American character actress of stage, television and film. Stapleton was best known for playing Edith Bunker, the perpetually optimistic and devoted wife of Arc ...
, a close friend of O'Connor's since the early 1960s, did not attend the service because of a commitment for a stage performance. O'Connor's best friend Larry Hagman and his family attended the funeral, along with the surviving cast of ''In the Heat of the Night'', including
Alan Autry Carlos Alan Autry Jr. (also known for a time as Carlos Brown; born July 31, 1952), is an American actor, politician, and former National Football League player. During his brief football career, he was known as Carlos Brown. He played the ro ...
and
Denise Nicholas Denise Donna Nicholas (born July 12, 1944) is an American actress, author, and social activist. Nicholas is known primarily for her roles as high-school guidance counselor Liz McIntyre on the ABC comedy-drama series ''Room 222'' and Councilwoma ...
. Actor
Martin Sheen Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...
, then starring on ''
The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White Hous ...
'', delivered the eulogy. O'Connor's body was buried at
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park & Mortuary is a cemetery and mortuary located in the Westwood Village area of Los Angeles. It is located at 1218 Glendon Avenue in Westwood, with an entrance from Glendon Avenue. The cemetery was ...
with his son Hugh's
cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...
placed on his gravestone. In honor of O'Connor's career,
TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cl ...
moved an entire weekend of programming to the next week and showed a continuous marathon of ''All in the Family''. During the commercial breaks, TV Land also showed interview footage of O'Connor and various ''All in the Family'' actors, producers with whom he had worked, and other associates. His wife Nancy Fields O'Connor died on November 10, 2014, at age 84.


Filmography


as Actor

reference

https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/143058%7C28019/Carroll-O%27connor#filmography]


Film


Television


Theater

referenc


as Other


Author

* ''I Think I'm Outta Here'' () (1999) Autobiography


Accolades


Emmy Awards


Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globes


Walk of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...


See also


References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Carroll 1924 births 2001 deaths 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters Alumni of University College Dublin American male film actors American male television actors American male television writers American military personnel of World War II American people of Irish descent American Roman Catholics American sailors American television directors American television writers Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (television) winners Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery Catholics from New York (state) Deaths from diabetes Male actors from New York City Military personnel from New York City Military personnel from New York (state) Newtown High School alumni Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Primetime Emmy Award winners Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award winners People from Elmhurst, Queens People from Forest Hills, Queens Screenwriters from New York (state) Television producers from New York City United States Merchant Marine Academy alumni United States Merchant Mariners United States Merchant Mariners of World War II University of Montana alumni University of Montana faculty Wake Forest University alumni